Sandro Magister today gives the speech presented to the Napa Institute by the new Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jos Gmez. It reminds us of the early presence of Catholic missionaries in lands that would become the USA, a history often forgotten in favor of the later arrival of the Puritans. For the archbishop the recovery of this history might also help overcome the threat of a new nativism.The talk reminded me of the prize-winning scholarly work of a former student at Catholic Unversity, Timothy Matovina, now director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at Notre Dame.http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1349407?eng=yhttp://theol… Magister today gives the speech presented to the Napa Institute by the new Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jos Gmez. It reminds us of the early presence of Catholic missionaries in lands that would become the USA, a history often forgotten in favor of the later arrival of the Puritans. For the archbishop the recovery of this history might also help overcome the threat of a new nativism.The talk reminded me of the prize-winning scholarly work of a former student at Catholic Unversity, Timothy Matovina, now director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at Notre Dame, who has become not only one of the best historians of Hispanic Catholicism in the US but also a fine interpreter of its contemporary challenges and opportunities.