We’ve all heard the statistics “warning” us that the ethnic and racial makeup of the Catholic Church in the United States is becoming increasingly Hispanic. Some see this reality as a complete redefining of who we are as American Catholics.
But perhaps this transformation is more analogous to a coming-of-age story. In this emerging narrative, the character is not a person but the body of the Church. Like the young adult who suddenly realizes that the world does not revolve around him, his needs, his wants, and his way of defining himself, the U.S. Church is finally waking up to the reality that “half of the Roman Catholics of the world trace their religious and cultural heritage to Spain, Portugal, and the rich popular Catholicism of Latin America” (“Responding to Proselytism,” Letter of California’s Hispanic Bishops, May 1988).
The numbers are significant. Seven states had more than 1 million Hispanic residents in 2000: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. Last year, the Hispanic population in Texas reached 51 percent. Since 1990, the nation’s Hispanic population has increased 58 percent. Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic population in the United States, increasing almost four times faster than the rest of the population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics are the largest minority in the country, and 70 percent identify themselves as Catholic. In 2000, 68 percent either were foreign born or had at least one parent who was foreign.
Perhaps the most dramatic number: Of the U.S. Church’s 62 million members, a whopping 39 percent are of Hispanic origin, and that number is growing rapidly due to the population growth in Hispanic families and the constant influx of new immigrants. Hispanics will soon make up a majority in the U.S. Church.
Problem or Opportunity?
Some observers persist in describing and naming this transformation as the Hispanic problem. But I see the growing Hispanic presence as a moment of grace. Hispanic Catholics have a long and distinguished history in the U.S. Catholic Church, and their contributions to the Church and the culture have been vibrant and unique: the early evangelization efforts by missionaries in the West and Southwest, the striking spiritual art of New Mexico, the powerful and creative intellectual thought of today’s Hispanic spiritual voices.
The question, then, is: How can we as a Church call on today’s Hispanics to be a “prophetic presence,” as the U.S. bishops have called it?
Many factors influence the Hispanic community’s ability to thrive in American culture—economically, educationally, and socially. Two factors are a major hindrance: the secularization of Hispanic families and the drifting of baptized Catholics to other religions.
Secularizing Influence
A 2003 report by the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies (www.nd.edu/~latino/) showed that Hispanics become less Catholic with each U.S.-born generation. By the third generation, the percentage of active Catholics falls to 62 percent.
New immigrants seek to belong to American culture, and many second- and third-generation Hispanics are becoming unchurched, embracing a culture that promotes consumerism and individualism above all other values. They are joining the ranks of the second largest “denomination” in the country: non-practicing Catholics.
A study of Church personnel involved in outreach to second-generation Hispanics in the Southwest—commissioned by the Committee on Hispanic Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—reports that “the hardest group to reach is the Mexican-American community. . . . Mexican-Americans have become ‘too Americanized.’ While they are generally more economically stable and educated than newly arrived immigrants, they tend to have more broken marriages and divorces” (www.usccb.org/hispanicaffairs). Part of the problem, notes the study, is that they have become “secularized,” putting “more stress on material goods and social activities than on church participation and spiritual growth.”
Protestant Proselytizing
The loss of Hispanics to other faiths may be the worst defection in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. About one-fourth of U.S. Hispanics are Protestants—and the percentage would be higher if not for a constant influx of Mexican Catholics into the country.
Former Catholics cite various reasons for venturing to Evangelical churches, including that “they provide a more practical religion, more study of the Bible, and a greater sense of community,” according to a recent article on HispanicOnline.
We may not want to admit it, but it’s time we study why and how the Evangelical churches are reaching Hispanics. We need to read their literature and educate ourselves about their effective grassroots efforts. It is clearly working.
One “advantage” that small, Bible-based churches have is that they don’t require years of education and training for their Hispanic members to become lay faith leaders—or even pastors. In a very real way, our view of education is getting in the way.
Hispanic ministry at the parish level cannot be a program designed and operated by educated non-Hispanics to the exclusion of Hispanic leaders—even if those potential Hispanic leaders lack a formal education. There are Hispanics in every community who have leadership talents and the ability to become trained leaders and catechists. Often immigrants have been trained in their home countries but are not used here because they lack U.S. credentials or English language skills.
Identifying and promoting Hispanic leaders is one of the obvious goals of Evangelical churches in “evangelizing” Hispanic communities—and it’s working.
“Recent Hispanic immigrants from predominantly Catholic countries are becoming more open to other religions as they experience the pluralism in American society,” said Rev. Jesse Miranda, president of the Alianza de Ministerios Evangelicos Nacionales, a multi-denominational association of Evangelical leaders. “They change jobs. They change communities and countries, so changing churches is not as drastic or maybe as radical as it would be in their homeland,” Miranda said in the Cox News Service article “Thousands of Hispanics Becoming Evangelicals.”
Miranda’s group says its purpose is to promote “unity among diverse Latino subcultures and develop leaders.” The ministry holds regional seminars and national convocations that have trained thousands of Hispanics in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and northern Mexico.
“Churches that reach out to Hispanics are blessed by their lively worship style and an infectious enthusiasm that enlivens the stale and over-religious services in the average church,” Miranda said, adding that Hispanics want churches that reflect Spanish culture in their services and include Hispanic leaders.
In 1988, California’s Hispanic bishops issued a pastoral letter expressing their concern over Hispanics leaving the Church and urging them to remain faithful. Noting that it is usually “the direct result of an aggressive and disrespectful proselytism,” the bishops encouraged and challenged Hispanics to assume their proper, active role in society and the Church.
“The main concern . . . is the drift to other religions of so many Hispanics who were baptized and often raised in the Catholic faith,” the bishops said. “We hope that our words will not be taken as an attack on true religious respect, on true ecumenism. . . . If you are among those who are no longer practicing Catholics, ask yourselves why and then read this letter, which is in a very special way addressed and dedicated to you because we care about you.”
Develop Leaders
It is crucial that the Church community identify and call forth Hispanics to claim their role as leaders, at the parish level and in the business or secular sector. Because it will be a long time before these efforts develop a surge in Hispanic vocations, inviting, educating and supporting lay Hispanic leaders must be a top priority.
- Many dioceses already have programs to educate and develop lay ministers in the Hispanic community. These formation and ministerial programs must be accessible to all Hispanic leaders. This must include a certificate program for those without a formal high school education, preferably in Spanish.
- At the parish level, Hispanic Catholics need to be represented on the various councils and committees of the parish. This may require a personal invitation by someone already involved at the parish level—an honest invitation that affirms the person’s gifts and explains why the parish needs his voice.
- We need to call on educated and successful Hispanic professionals to claim and proclaim their Catholic faith—and to serve as mentors for Hispanic youth.
Setting the Example
In the state of Colorado alone, the rate has been an outstanding 73 percent growth in the Hispanic population in one decade—making the state 17 percent Hispanic, with Denver at 31 percent.
The Archdiocese of Denver reached out specifically to Hispanic business leaders, inviting them to join the Church in responding to this challenge. The diocese sponsored a three-day conference in 2004 attended by a group of approximately thirty bishops and Hispanic business leaders.
The rate of growth is “an urgent matter,” noted San Antonio Archbishop José H. Gomez, who was then auxiliary bishop of Denver and the visionary for the program. Because business leaders are also community leaders, they are an obvious avenue to reach the greater Hispanic community, he explained. “Hispanic leaders have a chance to shape the future of our country in a unique way. And precisely because of their financial success, they also have the opportunity to model moral character and Catholic faith in a way that will get very widely noticed.”
Catechize
- If there is a shortage of leadership in the Hispanic laity, much of it is due to a serious deficit in formation and training. Often, as the Hispanic Affairs study emphasized, “the requirements of having completed higher education tends to exclude many potential candidates from important positions of leadership in the diocese or parish.” Many of those excluded are Hispanics who are involved in the life of the parish. Promote leadership through catechesis.
- There is a passionate desire in the Hispanic community for Scripture study, and the intense proselytizing of Hispanics by small, Bible-based Christian sects makes it critical that the parish offer Scripture studies in Spanish. Hispanics need to hear that Catholics do read the Bible—and that the sacraments and the Mass are biblically based celebrations with countless biblical references. This is not what the Christian sects are telling them.
- Because many vibrant traditions are intrinsic to the Hispanic religious experience, they become natural opportunities for the parish to offer religious guidance and catechesis to the whole family. for example, Latino families celebrate their children’s sacraments (such as First Communion) with a fiesta. And if the parish offers education and guidance on their spiritual significance, cultural traditions such as quinceañeras can enrich the life of the family and the whole parish.
- A parish in my city reached out to Hispanic parents who were sitting in their cars while their children attended First Communion classes. They invited them to come in and reflect together on the next Sunday’s Scripture readings. That group has continued to meet long after their children completed their training.
- Each Latin America country has a unique way of celebrating its traditional expressions of the faith. Be aware of the individual characteristics of your parish’s Hispanic community. Certain.aspects of liturgy are especially important to Hispanics, such as music from their native country at Mass, Marian prayers, the reciting of the rosary, and the reenactment of biblical passages that follow the liturgical calendar—the posadas in Advent, the three kings in the Epiphany procession, and the stations of the cross during Lent. A very important tradition for all of Latin America is the celebration of Marian feasts, especially Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Create a Sense of Belonging
- A big step in helping Hispanic families find a home in the parish is showing flexibility regarding practices that are alien to immigrants, such as church registration. Don’t make registration in the parish mandatory for catechesis or social services. If they are undocumented workers, registration in the parish may be unthinkable. Yet even documented immigrants may fear giving personal information because that would have implied danger in their country of origin. This is true, of course, not only for Hispanics but also for many recent immigrants from Africa, for example.
- Door-to-door neighborhood visits are being used by aggressive proselytizing sects to invite them into their local churches. Catholic parishes likewise must reach out to Hispanic newcomers and connect with neighbors not already involved with the parish. Use individual visits to invite them, personally, to the local faith community—providing them with specific information on Mass times and on particular events of interest to the family.
- Promote small parish-based faith communities as well as apostolic movements that build small neighborhood faith groups.
- Make social services available, in Spanish, for new immigrants. This will make the parish a true home.
- Supply Spanish reading materials, a Spanish parish bulletin, a Spanish Mass, and bilingual priests. Even where it is not possible to provide all of those resources, displaying an understanding and appreciation of Hispanic culture will be a witness.
- Before deciding on programs or resources or any plan of action, create a group of Hispanic lay leaders and parish staff to identify together the specific “face” of the parish’s Hispanic community and its needs. Remember: Plan with, not for.
Think Young
- The Latino population is overwhelmingly young, and the Church cannot afford to ignore this fact. Approximately 50 percent of Hispanics are under the age of twenty-six, and over 33 percent are eighteen or younger. Religious education classes may need to be bilingual or in Spanish, depending on the particular Hispanic population of the parish.
The formation of young Hispanics—especially young adult Hispanics—must be an urgent priority for the Church, especially if it seeks to foster vocations to the priesthood, the deaconate, and the consecrated life.
The Bottom Line
“All of America is changing, and Latinos will shape the nature of that change, not just because Hispanics are more and more a part of the U.S. population,” noted Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput. “Numbers are important, but it’s who the numbers are, what they believe, and what they do that finally matter—and this is why some people become decisive in a nation, and some don’t,” said the archbishop at a conference for Hispanic business leaders.
“Hispanics can bring to the table a Catholic sense of family, a Catholic sense of community, a Catholic love for life, generosity, and a respect for the dignity of the person,” said Chaput. “Remember who you are. Remember the faith and Catholic understanding of the world that shaped you. Make your success a success of the soul—a success for the common good—and you’ll leave the world a better place than you entered it, which is what God asks from all of us.”