The Barna Group conducted a series of telephone interviews among nine nationwide random samples of adults. In the course of the 9,232 interviews conducted, each respondent was asked if they considered themselves to be Hispanic. These surveys were conducted between January 2007 and November 2008. In total, there were 1,195 adults in the Hispanic category.
There are some interesting findings in the survey:
- Alignment with the Catholic church (down by 25 percentage points)
- Being a born again Christian (up by 17 percentage points)
There are many other findings, but to read them all go here.
This has some serious implications for the Archdiocese of Washington DC, which has spent a huge amount of money and effort on the Hispanic community, because they see them (Hispanics) as the hope for the next 40 or 50 years of the Catholic Church in DC.
Whether or not their efforts will pay off, may not be seen for many years. But the indications that I get is that they are not.
3 comments:
As a Hispanic man, I'll give my two cents worth:
All you have to do to understand what is going on is to pick up a copy of the Archdiocesan spanish newspaper: El Pregonero. For decades the Church, in both Latin America and to some extent in the US (as it addresses the Hispanic community), has neglected the spiritual, devotional, and theological aspects of our Faith and has reduced it to a type of leftist social justice. This has resulted in a community living in a spiritual vaccuum! When that happens, they just go somewhere else in their quest for God. Charity is very important but you can't take out WHY we practice it.
My observation, within the context of a suburban Maryland parish, is this:
The parish leadership (led by the pastor) has for years promoted hispanic liturgy and community. The problem is, while attendance at the hispanic mass is high, engagement in parish life(fundraising, outreach, evangilization, education, etc) is low. It seems as though the hispanic community expects a 'faith package' to be provided them including a spanish speaking priest, without contributing (read, not just financial) to the community that provides it. For years I've heard that the lack of engagement is a 'cultural thing'. Maybe so, but that's not good enough.
The spiritual, devotional, theologocal and many other aspects of the church are alive and well and open to all who want/need/seek them. But, it must be sustained by people willing to fully engage in and give back to the community, in all forms.
Thank you both for your observations. They are insightful
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