He probably is out of step with the cafeteria Catholics of his diocese. He’s in step with God, though. As for Hispanics being cafeteria Catholics, I suspect that the Irish and Germans are cafeteria Catholics in similar proportions.
It’s something the American Church doesn’t like to acknowledge, but there is significant variance in fidelity along ethnic lines. Groups like Germans and Poles who already had their schisms, either in the old country or here, tend to significantly higher orthodoxy than the Irish, for whom being able to claim some sort of Catholic identity is wrapped up with their “Irishness,” regardless of how little heed they actually give Rome.
Latinos, like the Poles and Germans, show a tendency to just leave if they find a church they like better, although it’s going to take a couple of generations for that tendency to sort itself out entirely.
My elderly aunt and I had a number of conversations about politics and religion before she died.She went to Mass every day until her health started to fail (as she reached 90),she never was without her rosary beads...etc.Yet she voted RAT every single time.I tried to explain to her what today's RAT Party was about (abortion,homosexual "marriage",etc) because she wasn't up on politics.She was appalled by what I told her.But when I tried to discover if I had succeeded in changing her mind I found that I hadn't.When I asked why she was gonna continue voting RAT she said "because the RATS give me my Social Security".
I knew at that point that she was a lost cause...politically speaking.
**He probably is out of step with the cafeteria Catholics of his diocese. **
Exactly — I wanted to say it’s the CINOs who are out of step here!