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Hispanics: The New Irish for the U.S. Catholic Church?

by Alejandro Bermudez 

“Demography is destiny,” proclaimed Auguste Comte, the French founder of sociology.

In terms of Hispanic immigration, the Catholic Church in the U.S. has not experienced such a dramatic demographic change since the immigration of the Irish, who so deeply transformed the face of the American Catholic Church that it is legitimate to say that we currently have no idea of how it looked before them.

An immigration policy that satisfies American Catholics will be hard to find. But I believe that inside the Catholic Church another issue is far more important: the immigration fact, which is that at least 40 percent, and soon even a majority of U.S. Catholics are Latino – more specifically, young Latinos.

Even if Latino immigration to the U.S. ended now, the “Hispanization” of the Catholic Church would continue, since Hispanics boast the highest birth rate among all other ethnic groups in America and tend to maintain their identity for two or three generations.

A recent Pew Hispanic Center study on young Latinos in America only highlights the importance of addressing the issue with questions that touch more on demographics and culture than mere policies and politics – and why the issue matters to the Church.

The report takes a look at Hispanics aged 16 to 25, a time when “they navigate the intricate, often porous borders between the two cultures they inhabit: American and Latin American.”

Young Latinos, according to the report, are optimistic about their future and place a high value on education, hard work and career success; yet they are much more likely than other American youths to drop out of school, become teenage parents and have a high level of exposure to gangs.

When it comes to religion, the Pew study finds that church attendance is highest among first generation Hispanics and declines among those from the following generations. This information is not only of religious value, as the report makes the notable finding that young Latinos who report attending a religious service at least once a week are less prone to risky behavior.

The math is simple: For the good of the Catholic Church and the nation as a whole, we need to prevent Latinos from becoming unchurched.

How can the Church address this challenge, even as it is transformed by the ethnic group it is seeking to embrace?

Looking back to the last, significant wave of immigration that drastically shaped the face of the Church in the U.S., it is clear that there is something to be learned from the Irish experience – perhaps most importantly, the lesson of the decisive role of Irish leadership.

Originating from a poverty-stricken country, Irish immigration, like the Italian, Polish and German waves of the past, brought the simple and uneducated to America. Yet the difference between the Irish and the other groups was that they came with an educated, highly self-conscious leadership. Cardinal Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin from 1852 to 1878, turned the formation of priests and religious that would lead Irish Catholics in America into a personal obsession. For Cardinal Cullen, this mission of bringing Catholicism to Anglo North America was entrusted to him by Divine Providence.

Unfortunately, the Latin American countries from which most immigrants come are a far cry from having the droves of priests and religious that Ireland had in the 1800s. But it is only with an educated leadership that the Latino immigration wave can have the kind of impact that its size, not to mention its Catholic conscience, warrants.

Fortunately, if the Catholic Latino leadership is short on numbers, it is not deficient in quality.

Archbishop José Gomez of San Antonio is probably the best example of this.

Born in the United States and raised in Mexico, Archbishop Gomez has deep family roots on both sides of the border. Very early on in his pastoral ministry, he strove to create the sort of leadership the new wave of Hispanic immigrants greatly needs.

He founded the Asociación Nacional de Sacerdotes Hispanos (National Association of Hispanic Priests), plus a similar organization for Hispanic permanent deacons. With Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver he founded the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL). The San Antonio archbishop has also been a strong supporter of “La Red,” the largest network of Hispanic youth ministers.

Archbishop Gomez is convinced that the Church needs to more actively address the Hispanic challenge, and that a large portion of this responsibility falls in the laps of Hispanic Catholic leaders, be it clergy or laity.

It is these leaders who must proactively meet the challenge of ensuring that the Catholic faith is continuously and richly nourished in Latino families, especially among the youth. This must be done not just to prevent the second and third generations from leaving the pews, but also to provide an ambitious contribution to the Church in the United States – a new springtime. 

Thus, Archbishop Gomez has been promoting an alternative to the damaging “welfare” mentality that still dominates some pastoral environments. Such a mentality has shown to be not only pastorally unproductive, but completely at odds with the immigrant’s conviction that reward is the fruit of hard work.

Latinos are also profoundly sacramental. That is why Archbishop Gomez has always been involved in promoting Hispanic vocations in the U.S., as well as people with vocations in Mexico that are willing to minister in the U.S. He promoted the creation and is a board member of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Mexico City, created especially to form priests who will minister to U.S. Hispanics.

The Hispanic laity also has a very urgent role, especially when it comes to the youth.

As Cardinal Francis George explained early in his ministry as Archbishop of Chicago, immigrants are not simply Latin Americans “transplanted” to the United States; rather, they belong to a complex “immigrants’ culture” that is different from both their country of origin and their new home. It is easy for youths to break with their parents and create their own cultural context. No wonder gangs are such a challenge.

A successful, faith-centered response to this challenge can only come from peers who, with education and formation in their faith, offer a convincing testimony to Latino youth. They need to hear from successful Latinos who have not abandoned the faith of their fathers – and that’s why Archbishop Gomez is convinced that initiatives such as “La Red” and CALL must improve, grow and multiply.

The implications of the Pew report are both challenging and hopeful for Catholics in the United States. I am optimistic about the existence of concrete means to meet them. But whether the Church as a whole will apply those responses with the necessary level of intensity is another question.

 

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)