The founder of my religious congregation, Father Thomas Judge, C.M., worried over the newly arriving Italian immigrants losing their Catholicism. With little pastoral care for these immigrants they were “leaking” from the Church. Since they were from a traditionally Catholic country they should have the Faith as a birthright. We tend to think this way: Italians, Irish, Mexicans should be Catholic as a birthright. St. Paul does not think this way. He does not see race or nation as what makes one a believer but a personal decision for the faith. He says, both the circumcised and uncircumcised are “justified by faith.” Nowadays when the “leakage” from the church has become a flood we need to promote a personal acceptance of faith more than ever.
