I was six years old when America celebrated her Bicentennial.
Like so many children of my generation, I can still remember the flags lining neighborhood streets, the patriotic songs, the parades and fireworks that seemed impossibly big. I didn’t understand what 200 years of independence meant, but I knew I was part of something bigger than myself.
That summer became one of the defining memories of my childhood.
It gave me a love for America that has never left.
Now, nearly 50 years later, I find myself preparing to celebrate another milestone—our nation’s 250th birthday.
The little girl who waved a flag in 1976 is now a wife, mother, and someone who has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of faith, media, and culture. I’ve watched America through seasons of extraordinary unity and painful division. I’ve seen us accomplish remarkable things, and I’ve watched us lose confidence in institutions, in one another, and sometimes even in the ideals that first gave birth to this nation.
Yet my hope has not diminished.
Because the American story has never been about perfection.
It has always been about possibility.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, our founders made a claim unlike any the world had ever seen. They declared that our rights do not come from kings, governments, or majorities. They come from our Creator.
That single sentence in the Declaration of Independence changed history.
It recognized a truth that remains just as revolutionary today as it was in 1776: every human person possesses an inherent dignity because our lives are gifts from God.
Our founders did not always live consistently with that truth. Neither have we. The history of our nation is filled with both extraordinary courage and undeniable failures. America, however, has always possessed something rare—the capacity to call itself back to its highest ideals.
That is why I believe the future of our country will never be determined only by elections, legislation, or economic strength. Rather, it will be determined by the kind of people we become.
America has been blessed with remarkable witnesses who understood this.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen saw that the gospel was never meant to remain safely inside church walls. He embraced the newest communications tools of his generation because he believed Christ belonged in the conversations shaping the culture. Long before podcasts and social media, he understood that if we abandon the public square, someone else will fill the silence.
Blessed Stanley Rother lived the same truth in a different way.
An Oklahoma farm boy who became a missionary in Guatemala, he at first fled that country for his safety, but then he chose to return to his flock, knowing it would likely cost him his life. And it did. His witness reminds us that love—whether for God, neighbor, or country—is ultimately measured not by sentiment but by sacrifice.
Those two men lived very different vocations.
One evangelized through media, the other through martyrdom.
Both understood that faith is never meant to retreat from the world.
That conviction has quietly shaped my own life.
Whether representing artists, advising filmmakers, moderating conversations, or helping stories find their audience, my mission has never been simply to create faith-based entertainment. It has been to help faithful men and women engage the broader culture with authenticity, excellence, and purpose—to bring faith into the world rather than allowing the world to reshape the faith.
Because culture matters. Stories matter. Beauty matters.
They shape what a civilization believes about itself.
As America turns 250, I believe our greatest need is not merely political renewal, but cultural renewal. Politics has its place, but laws alone cannot produce virtue. Every lasting renewal in history has begun first in the human heart and then radiated outward into families, churches, schools, businesses, and communities.
Culture is formed by what we choose to celebrate, the stories we tell, the beauty we create, the truth we defend, and the sacrifices we are willing to make for one another. It is shaped by parents who teach their children to love what is good, teachers who refuse to compromise the truth, artists who elevate rather than diminish the human spirit, pastors who proclaim the Gospel with courage, and ordinary men and women who quietly choose fidelity over comfort.
That is how cultures are renewed. That is how civilizations endure.
Abraham Lincoln once described America as “the last, best hope of earth.” Those words were never a guarantee. They were a calling.
A reminder that America’s greatness has never rested in her military strength or economic prosperity alone. It has rested in her willingness—even after failure—to strive toward justice, virtue, and the dignity of every human person.
As I think back to that little girl standing beneath the fireworks of 1976, I wonder what today’s 6-year-olds will remember when they look back on this anniversary 50 years from now.
Will they remember a nation consumed by division?
Or will they remember that this was the generation that rediscovered who it was?
My prayer is that when America celebrates her 300th birthday, those children—then grandparents themselves—will be able to say that theirs was the generation that chose hope over cynicism, courage over comfort, truth over expediency, and faith over fear.
If they do that, perhaps Lincoln’s words will still ring true.
Not because America is perfect.
But because she continues to strive toward the truth that first gave her life—that every man, woman, and child possesses a dignity given not by government, but by God.
May God bless America.
And may He grant us the wisdom, humility, and courage to remain worthy of being, in Lincoln’s words, the last, best hope of earth.
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Amen Ms. Wheeler.
“It is for us, the living, to rededicate ourselves…that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom….”
If you love this quote you should know that JPII also repeated this quote, right now the JP2National Shrine has an exhibit on the 250th Anniversary of USA Independence with a remembrance of his visits to the US and the words he spoke about the US! It’s wonderful!
God Bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the Light from Above
From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God Bless America, my home sweet home
God Bless America, my home sweet home
May God give us the Grace to change ourselves accordingly so that we may be able to change the culture.
Happy 250th birthday America and happy Fourth of July to all.
Amen.
In my opinion, the 10 MOST UNPATRIOTIC States in the USA are: CA, VT, MA, OR, RI, NY, HI, CT, WA, and NJ
Define unpatriotic.
These are the top Abortion States of America. However you missed including Illinois.
Dio, ten states? My Mom would caution us, “Don’t use absolutes like all or none”.
Sounds like a broad indictment of 10 states without revealing the source of the “facts”. Johnny Carson would ask, “How unpatriotic are they?”
We have PATRIOTIC FAMILY AND FRIENDS in some of these states. Please define “UNPATRIOTIC”! And provide the URLs.
We can guess that you do not live in any of the 10.
Anyway, have a safe and educational 4th. Let freedom ring.
Diogenes: I take exception for Rhode Island Island home of the oldest continuous forth of July parade. Every year since 1785! Come some year and see patriotism displayed by Rhode Islanders. Unprecedented!!! Some people come hours early to get a place. The parade if humongous and takes several hours. Welcome to RI the Ocean State and enjoy
Great article.
Culture is formed by what we choose to celebrate, the stories we tell, the beauty we create, the truth we defend, and the sacrifices we are willing to make for one another. Lisa, this is one of the most meaningful and inspiring reflections that I have read regarding our anniversary celebration. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And keep writing and creating stories not only for our generation, but for the generations to come. I tell my grand nephews and nieces the stories of their great grandparents who left school to go to work after the eighth grade, their dairy farmer great-great grandfather whose cows I milked. I want them to honor and appreciate their roots and how they inherited the life they live today. As a country we need to tell the stories of the indigenous people, the slave trade, the women not permitted to vote, the treatment of immigrants and refugees throughout our history. These stories will create our integrity, our compassion, and our last best hope for a perfect union.
“the stories of the indigenous people, the slave trade, the women not permitted to vote, the treatment of immigrants and refugees throughout our history. These stories will create our integrity, our compassion, and our last best hope for a perfect union.”
Slaves were forcibly brought to the USA against their will (similar to what human traffickers are doing today).
However, no one forces immigrants to come to the USA and remain here. Immigrants are always welcome to return to the country of their origin. And, indeed, some do.
I agree that history should be taught in its entirety but how was early America different in those things than other European colonies? Which colonies in the Western hemisphere had no history of slavery or troubles with indigenous peoples? When did women begin voting elsewhere?
More than six years old during the Bicentennial in 1976, yours truly was 32 and remembers only too well how the national celebration was muddied with the American version of der Synodal Weg—termed the “Call to Action” (CTA, much diminished but still hanging around).
Among the CTA goals: Ending mandatory priestly celibacy, women’s ordination, and revising Church teaching on issues like contraception and homosexuality. The 1976 grand finale in Detroit’s Cobo Hall—a bottoms-up combination of bishops and other clerics, nuns, and laity—under Archbishop Deardon, was preceded by two years of parish-level stirrings and provocative surveys, and neighborhood gatherings. It was a couple of years before the bishops’ conference finally disavowed the whole drill.
In the 1980s a less extravagant, but still flawed, attempt to engage the Church in “renewal” was called RENEW…
This time, centered in Newark under none other than Archbishop McCarrick. In 1987 the NCCB (now USCCB) Committee on Doctrine completed its review of the program. After a positive evaluation of goals, the (here much condensed) criticism called out four critical defects: (1) “the tendency toward a generic Christianity [omissions of Tradition and practice]; (2) the need for greater balance and completeness [need to balance Scripture and community with the Magisterium]; (3) the cognitive dimensions of faith need more emphasis [insufficient is ‘experience as the locus of revelation’]; (4) the Eucharist needs broader definition and an emphasis on sacrifice and worship [Jesus seems to be present in the sharing rather than His Real Presence in the Eucharist]. The NCCB offered specific corrective actions which, in some dioceses were successfully carried out (my parish, in an involved diocese, instead instituted Perpetual Adoration 24/7 which lasted 34 years until COVID in 2020).
UPDATE: Today at the global scale, Pope Leo XIV has inherited the minefield of both the not-so-new/now overripe der Synodal Weg, and SSPX, neither of his own making. The Church, itself, remains a “hierarchical communion” (Lumen Gentium, Ch. 3 with Prefatory Note).
Pope Peter and St. Augustine, pray for us.
“Among the CTA goals: Ending mandatory priestly celibacy, women’s ordination, and revising Church teaching on issues like contraception and homosexuality.”
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Thank you for this article. An excellent new book, definitive, comprehensive, fantastically documented and a great read (number 1 in sales at amazon…) by scholar Eric Metaxas, Revolution. It includes hitherto unnoticed statements by the Founders. For example, when named to lead the American forces, he told his officers to instruct his officers not to swear, to behave properly, and to attend Church every Sunday whenever possible. S see
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https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Birth-Greatest-Nation-History/dp/1631440888
I’m not a fan of revolutions and I wouldn’t have made the same choice Washington did but I do admire his decency, character, and the respect and tolerance he showed to Catholics and Jews.
“I’m not a fan of revolutions and I wouldn’t have made the same choice Washington did”
Then get out of the way. Unless more come, we will suffocate under the bondage of a Benthamite panopticon.
I just finished reading this collectible edition. See link below. Fantastic. Includes an essay examining Jefferson first draft of the Declaration where he excoriates king George for establishing the slave trade to the colonies! Has chapter on American women designers and designs that revolutionized fashion; music from Copeland to Marsalis, best places to visit in the US, and all with great photography, essays on aspects of our government, American recipes, and more. I ordered several copies to give to people so they learn about the great country we live in.
Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday: Limited Collectible Edition
• History: the moments, movements, and people that brought us here. Includes an article on how Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration included a rebuke to King George for establishing the slave trade to the Americas!
• Culture & the Arts: the voices, music, and ideas that gave America its character. Includes music from Copland to Marsalis, fashion with women entrepreneurs who designed things that became world famous, and more
• Service: the everyday heroism that keeps the country running
• Sports & Recreation: the games, places, and pastimes woven into American life
• Food & Cuisine: the regional flavors and family recipes that tell our story
The magazine tells the truth about America: a country that has endured hardship, achieved greatness, confronted its shortcomings, and renewed its promise of liberty, generation after generation. It celebrates the people, values, and achievements that shaped our nation and changed the world.
Once this edition sells out, it will not be reprinted. Print runs are limited and there are no plans for a second printing. If America’s 250th means something to you—or to someone you love—this is the issue to own.
A meaningful gift for history buffs, teachers, parents and grandparents, veterans, new citizens, civic-minded readers, and anyone who wants to remember exactly where they stood in 2026.
https://www.amazon.com/Celebrating-Americas-250th-Birthday-Collectible/dp/B0H5FYVYGG