Remember that Christianity is not, first and foremost, a religion; it is first and foremost a revelation. It comes before us chiefly not with a declaration of feelings we are to cultivate, or thoughts we are to develop; it comes before us, first and foremost, with the announcement of what God is, as He is proved in what he has done. --- William Temple

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
December 30, 2016

I live with my wife in a condominium complex on the Delaware River in Philadelphia and in the three years we have been here, we have gotten to know a few couples. One couple, Pat and Jack, are among our favorites. They are (very) old faithful Catholics who worship at the cathedral in Philadelphia. They are wonderfully Irish who love their wine and their language can be a bit salty at times. They are still a loveable couple.

"Here is the reason why we have such a host of stillborn, sinewless, ricketty, powerless spiritual children. They are born of half-dead parents, a sort of sentimental religion which does not take hold of the soul, which has no depth of earth, no grasp, no power in it, and the result is a sickly crop of sentimental converts. Oh!

Births outside of marriage are declining in the United States, driven by a decline in births outside marriage among immigrant women and a flattening out of births outside marriage among American-born women. The trend may represent the end of an era of increase in unmarried mothers. The abortion rate has also been decreasing. --- Shannon Roberts for Mercatornet.com

Elections are in fact a tug-of-war for the soul of America. --- Marie Whitaker