On this day, let’s set aside talk of saints and focus on what can only be understood as a true miracle — this imperfect yet still-thriving experiment in representative democracy we call America. Thomas Jefferson, at the tender age of 32, writing alone in Philadelphia (before he received some editing help from several founding brothers), penned a document of such high ideals and startling clarity and vision that it help launch a nation, inspire a revolution (first among many) and then echo through the ages. His words are as stirring today as they were in 1776.

Take a moment today and read the Declaration of Independence.

As I am learning, there are scores of blogs devoted to all things and all aspects of things Catholic. Among the more consistently compelling is Whispers in the Loggia (a great moniker!) written by Philadelphian Rocco Palmo. His posts are serious, journalistic and in-depth with an eye toward church leadership and church politics, from Rome to local dioceses. This post, for example, notes a counter-intuitive notion: in some places in the U.S., the number of new priests entering the ranks is actually increasing. Padre Gaetano Catanoso, recently named the patron saint of parish priests, would be pleased.