America Media examines the stunning growth of Hispanics within the U.S. Catholic Church
Nowhere are the changing demographics of the United States clearer than in the Catholic Church, where Hispanics account more than 71 percent of the growth of the Catholic population since 1960.
Hispanics are also forming a new geographical center for U.S. Catholicism, according to Dr. Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of Hispanic ministry and religious education at Boston College. He served as principal investigator for the National Study of Catholic Parishes with Hispanic Ministry, a study led by Boston College in collaboration with the Center for Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.
Ospino, an expert in U.S. Catholicism with an emphasis on the Hispanic Catholic experience, shares his experise with readers of America in the Nov. 13, 2017 issue.
“Rapid demographic changes along with the fear of the unknown seems to explain some of the anxiety that invades the hearts of many Catholics in the United States today,” Ospino writes. “The best remedy to address such anxiety is to know more about each other.”
The majority of U.S. Catholics now live in the South and West, due in large part to the emerging Hispanic and Asian communities. Two-thirds of Catholics in the United States were both in this country while a majority of U.S. Catholics under 18 are Hispanic.
Ospino, gleaning insights from the evolving church landscape, details these and numerous other revelations that capture the emerging Hispanic population that is changing the face of the United States.
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America Media is the leading provider of editorial content for thinking Catholics and those who want to know what Catholics are thinking. America Media leads the conversation about faith and culture by producing excellent, unique, relevant and accessible content across multiple platforms. Our contributors are the principal figures in the American church; the decision-makers and opinion leaders who lead the ecclesial and civic debate about religion, society, politics and the arts. Those with something to say to the American church say it in America: popes and presidents; Nobel laureates; Pulitzer Prize winners; world-renowned scholars; and distinguished men and women of letters. Our flagship magazine, America, has been published continuously since 1909, making it one of the oldest periodicals in the United States today.
Lisa Manico
lmanico@americamedia.org
212-515-0135