The pastoral care of Hispanic families and immigrants, accompaniment of youth and young adults, and leadership development were the top priorities that Hispanic ministry leaders of seven dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Washington, addressed Oct. 5 at The Catholic University of America.

We asked our readers: In what ways is the church helping Latinos live out their faith in this country?

In many corners of the church, women are not treated with equal dignity and worth. Too often, the structures of the Catholic Church show little openness to meaningful transformation. But our church’s lack of insight, and the breakdown of our own self-monitoring systems, are curable.

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller delivers a Catholic response to the issue of immigration at the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, Texas.

Archbishop García-Siller keynoted “The Church in America: A Conversation on Immigration,” an event co-sponsored by America Media and the Mexican American Catholic College. Norma Pimentel, M.J., executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley and Sean Carroll, S.J., executive director of the Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Ariz., were respondents to the archbishop’s keynote.

Promising demographic data can easily be interpreted in a way that overlooks the textured history of Latino Catholics in the United States, one in which the very existence of Latino church communities has often come under threat.