Spanish-speaking and Latino Catholics already represent about one-third of the Catholic population in the U.S. church, and their numbers are increasing rapidly. “This growth is a blessing, but also it comes with a lot of challenges: We need to find a way to integrate the Hispanic community in fullness into the life of the church in the United States,” said Gustavo Valdez, a director of Hispanic ministry for the Diocese of Charleston, S.C. “The Hispanic community is growing in its own way, and the Anglo community is trying to maintain parishes in the United States, but we may not have that communion of communities, and sometimes we are trying to assimilate each other,” Valdez said, speaking at the 17th Southeast Regional Encuentro for Hispanic ministry hosted by the Miami-based Southeast Pastoral Institute on Oct. 17–20. “We are universal, and that means we have to work in a way that we can live together as a Christian community, as a Catholic community and accept each other as God’s gift,” said Valdez.
A Growing Hispanic Presence in U.S. Church
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
For President Trump, there are obvious, common-sense answers to all the problems that plague America. Even when things may be challenging or require effort, they are never, ever complicated.
Josephine Ward was a strong critic of Catholic modernism, and many of her novels featured protagonists struggling to reconcile au courant political and religious ideas with the strictures of the Catholic Church.
The show of national and international support in California reflects the human unity that God calls us to.
Praying for the president does not mean that you endorse everything he says and does. All should pray for him and the country, even those who hate him.