A breath of fresh air and renewed energy is profoundly transforming the entire U.S. Catholic experience from the ground up in many ways, thanks to the fast-growing Hispanic presence. Hispanics account for 71 percent of the growth of the Catholic population in the country since 1960. In large parts of the South and the West, as well as in a growing number of major urban centers throughout our geography, to speak of U.S. Catholicism is to speak largely of the Hispanic Catholic experience—and vice versa.
At the heart of the freshness and new energy that Hispanics add to the life of the Church in the United States are the people. Young people! The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 27. About 40 percent of all Hispanics in the country are under the age of 21. Ninety-three percent of Hispanics younger than 18 are U.S.-born. These are numbers that inspire hope. The potential of any society, or an institution like the Catholic Church, is intimately linked to its human capital, particularly the young. How U.S. Catholics respond to and engage Hispanic youth will likely be the most telling indicator to determine vitality and growth… or decline…of the American Catholic experience in the upcoming decades.
A Gift for All
Much of the good news for the Church in the United States is that most Hispanics remain Catholic despite the increasing influence of secularism and pluralistic trends in our society. At a time when about a quarter of the U.S. population self-identifies as nonreligiously affiliated (or “nones”), Hispanic Catholics offer a rather countercultural alternative to such a dynamic by witnessing a faith that is rich in traditions, stories, rituals, expressions, and symbolism. Contemporary secularism, as philosopher Charles Taylor suggests, seems to be the consequence of a process of “disenchantment” of reality, a condition that prevents many people in our Western world to perceive and even encounter the sacred in the everyday. For millions of Hispanics the worldview is much different, actually one that is more akin to the sacramental imagination that has given life to the Church for two millennia.
In many corners of our geography it is not unusual to encounter Hispanic Catholicism displayed at its best through street processions during major holy days. The beauty of the murals and other artistic expressions that creatively encapsulate the dialogue between Catholicism and Hispanic cultures is mesmerizing. Public displays of faith in neighborhoods and churches where Hispanics are present announce out loud that there is something novel in U.S. Catholicism, a unique opportunity to experience the richness of our faith tradition in new ways.
Not to Be Taken for Granted
However, the treasure of Hispanic faith and the people who embody such treasure is not to be taken for granted. We must not ignore the fact that nearly 14 million Hispanics, mostly young and U.S.-born, baptized and raised Catholics, have stopped self-identifying as such in recent years. That VISTAS 4 c21 resources | spring 2016 such a large number of young Hispanic Catholics is choosing not to call the Church their spiritual home matters a lot since approximately 60 percent of the entire Catholic population in the United States 18 and younger is Hispanic. This situation compels us as a Church to turn our attention, with a fierce sense of urgency, toward this important population.
Hispanic children and youth are the present and future of the Church in the United States. These are the children and youth whom our Catholic schools and colleges should be educating as part of their mission, our religious education programs forming in the faith, and our parishes engaging through youth ministry initiatives and constant outreach to welcome them into a transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. Evidence indicates, however, that we are lagging scandalously behind in these areas of ministerial outreach.
A Never-Ending Task
Hispanic immigrant Catholics in particular are bringing new life to entire faith communities throughout the country. Millions of Catholic women and men of all ages have come from all over Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain with a wealth of cultural and religious experiences, largely shaped by the strong presence of the Catholic Church in their nations of origin. Once in the country, the first and most familiar place Catholic immigrants seek is a Catholic community. This makes perfect sense. Catholic immigrants from Europe did likewise more than a century ago. Back then those immigrants did not count on the vast network of Catholic parishes, schools, and institutions that we have today and so proceeded to build thousands of them. U.S. Catholicism is what it is today in great part because of their faithfulness and generosity.
Hispanic Catholic immigrants— and Catholics from other parts of the world—arrive today to a more organized Church in the country with far more resources and stronger structures compared to the previous generations of immigrants. This does not mean that they and their children will not continue to create, build, and expand. Many more parishes and schools certainly need to be constructed in areas of the country where Catholicism did not have a strong presence, yet now is growing vibrantly in our day. Most Hispanics live in the South and the West. The American Catholic experience in the 21st century will continue to grow driven by two major dynamics. On the one hand, the incorporation—rather than assimilation—of new Catholic immigrants into existing structures where Catholicism has already grown deep roots. On the other, building new structures in parts of the nation where roots need to be planted or grown much deeper. This is a reminder that building the Church is always a neverending task—of course, until the Day of the Lord!
Questions and Transitions
Mindful of transformation that our faith communities are experiencing everywhere thanks to the Hispanic presence, Catholics of all racial and cultural backgrounds, including the millions of Hispanic Catholics who have been part of the United States of America for several generations, must contemplate two important questions. First, how do we allow ourselves and our communities to be sincerely transformed by the richness of the Hispanic religious and cultural traditions? Second, how to best share with the present generation of U.S. Catholics, largely Hispanic, the many resources that helped the previous generations thrive? There is no doubt that we as a Church—and as a society—are becoming something new. And this is good news because renewal is always a sign of God’s Holy Spirit working in our midst.
Both questions point to the fact that this is a time of transitions that require a great deal of conversion: personal, communal, and pastoral. Transition for some Catholic communities and institutions means embracing Christian practices of hospitality and solidarity. For others it is about being creative to serve the pastoral and spiritual needs of Hispanics in ways beyond the usual. And still for others transition requires a good measure of letting go so the new voices can take as much initiative as necessary in the forging of the new American Catholic experience in the 21st century, fostering collaborative partnerships while drawing from the best of their own wells.
A Great Opportunity
It is often asked why there aren’t more Hispanic Catholics in positions of leadership in the Church and in the larger society or why there aren’t more Hispanic Catholic families supporting our parishes and programs. Both are fair questions since Hispanic Catholics have lived in the U.S. territory longer than any other Catholic group. But the questions also demand that all Catholics in the United States look back at our history to examine attitudes toward Hispanics in our own communities and institutions. We also need carefully to assess how much we understand the complex realities that shape the lives of most Hispanics in the United States. This is the crux of the reflection that will likely define major choices and commitments within U.S. Catholicism during the first half of the 21st century.
It is interesting to observe, for instance, that nearly two-thirds of Hispanics are U.S.-born, yet most outreach efforts to this population on the part of the institutional Church focus on the immigrant third. This is most evident in the context of parish life: Though a full quarter of Catholic parishes in the country have explicitly developed some form of Hispanic ministry, almost all define such ministry as pastoral outreach in Spanish. Most serve primarily Hispanic immigrants. One might read this as a major discrepancy that reveals the fast-evolving Hispanic Catholic experience and how slow we as a Church—including Hispanics of all generations—have adjusted to respond adequately to the reality of being American and Catholic in an increasingly Hispanic Church. There is an element of truth to this. But I prefer to read this reality more as an opportunity.
Since the middle of the 20th century we have been writing a major chapter of the “Immigrant Church” experience, one that has been gradually reshaping U.S. Catholicism. Many Catholics have paid attention to this experience and done their best to engage it. Some have resisted the changes that come with this new chapter. Many others, too many I would say, have ignored it. Yet, numerous signs point to concerted efforts at this historical juncture finally to face the changing demographic and cultural trends impacting directly our faith communities and institutional structures. Paradoxically, we may be one generation, perhaps two, behind in our response. Yet this is undoubtedly a great opportunity.
It is imperative first to acknowledge the value of current ministerial strategies that serve the immigrant third of the Hispanic Catholic population. We should not lower the guard in this area since this is the group that is currently raising about half of all young U.S. Catholics.
In turn, Catholics of all backgrounds are increasingly discerning how to seize the day engaging the two-thirds of Hispanics who are U.S.-born. They are not immigrants but neither fully assimilated into any of the most dominant embodiments of the larger U.S. Catholic experience. We seem to be at the dawn of something new, definitely a unique opportunity much anticipated by visionaries and thinkers who wrote about these matters half a century ago. Yes, it is an opportunity to imagine fresher approaches to youth ministry and catechesis in our faith communities, integrating the many rich expressions of Hispanic faith and cultures and responding to the questions of Hispanic youth in their own context. This is an opportunity to revisit how our Catholic educational institutions at all levels are living out their mission in service to the Church today, a largely Hispanic Church. This is the opportunity to actualize the Church’s prophetic commitments to life, justice, and truth, addressing the many challenges that prevent millions of young Hispanics—our Catholic children—from living fuller lives and from seeing the Church as a home on their spiritual journey.
What a great moment to be Catholic in the United States!
Hosffman Ospino is the associate professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education and chair of the Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.
This article was originally published in the Spring 2016 edition of the C21 Resources magazine, "The Treasure of Hispanic Catholicism".
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