Gaston Espinosa, a professor of religion at Claremont McKenna College, puts it. He estimates that about 3.9m Latino Catholics have converted, and that “for every one who comes back to the Catholic church, four leave it.” The main reason, he thinks, is ethnic identity. Evangelical services are not only in Spanish, as many Catholic sermons are nowadays, but are performed by Latinos rather than Irish or Polish-American priests, with the cadences, rhythms, innuendos and flow familiar from the mother country. The evangelical services tend to be livelier than Catholic liturgy and to last longer, often turning into an outing lasting the whole day. Women play greater roles, and there are fewer parishioners for each pastor than in the Catholic church.
Fascinating insights, especially for our brothers and sisters in Destino. What do you think?
2 comments:
Keith,
thanks for posting this article. I believe that Latinos truly are the future of America. It is good to learn more about what God is doing among them.
I thought there were a few salient quotes that really stuck out to me. One,
"“This is the first group in America to reconcile both the vertical and the horizontal parts of the cross,” says Mr Rodriguez. By this he means that the Latino evangelical churches emphasise not only “covenant, faith and righteousness” (the vertical part), as white evangelicals do, but also “community, public policy and social justice” (the horizontal part), as many black evangelicals, but fewer white ones, do."
I think this is a way that Latinos can help the broader evangelical church be more concerned about being salt and light in our communities. This is something (largely as a result of our Premillennial eschatology) that we have neglected. The better Crusade gets at reaching Latinos the more they will affect Crusade culture, which will be good for Crusade.
The second quote that stuck out was:
"Latino charismatics see themselves as a renewal movement within Catholicism, as it converges with other churches. And in general all churchgoing Latinos tend to see themselves as renewing Christianity in America. That makes them a powerful force as demographic changes turn America ever more Hispanic, and increasingly different from secular Europe."
Latinos truly are making us a different country than secularized Europe. But, if you take a look at our CSU seminars we are still talking about America as though it is only white people. The sooner we recognize that Latinos (and other ethnic minorities) are changing the cultural landscape, the better off we will be.
Latinos have the potential to be the group that brings America back to God, I'm excited to be a part of that.
Now if we can just address some of the root issues (racism?) as to why more of our staff don't want to work with Hispanics.
-Eric
Eric,
Some great observations. I am glad your found this article stimulating, as well. I really like the "vertical" and "horizontal" concepts of the cross. And am intrigued by Rodriguez's comments.
As for why more staff hesitate (or neglect or perhaps, refuse) working with Latino students... Hmmm... I'm not sure I have a close enough picture of the staff reality to really know. But I suspect the "roots" of the issue would be fascinating (and perhaps, discouraging) to understand. But I am cautiously optimistic with the direction things are moving for us.
Thanks for being a part of the future!
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