>>Not in Los Angeles or other heavily Hispanic cities. <<
You're just making presumptions. I've had friends move to LA and be baffled by the fact that although the place is predominantly Catholic, they see very few Hispanics at mass; the Spanish-language masses are mostly empty.
I don't know if you have a different experience, but your comment "or other heavilu Hispanic cities" suggests you are talking from presumption.
According to Catholic-hierarchy.org, LA is only 37% Catholic. In 1950, before the illegals took over, it was 18%. Compare to San Diego, which has very few illegals comparably, which is 30% Catholic, up from 25% in 1970.
These numbers are very consistent with Catholicism's growth in areas outside the original Catholic strongholds in the Northeast & Upper Midwest areas.
Ooops:
"although the place is predominantly Catholic, "
Should read:
"although the place is predominantly Hispanic, "
You believe what you want to believe.I will not argue.
Dear dangus,
I guess what happens with Hispanic immigrants probably varies widely from place to place.
In the Archdiocese of Washington, many parishes have Spanish (or, to a lesser extent, Portuguese) Masses because of the influx of Hispanic immigrants. Large numbers of these folks are church-going.
The parish in which I was married is an example. In the 1950s and 1960s, the surrounding area was developed and built up. It was largely white, and had a significant white Catholic population. The parish was built in the 1950s, and served the Catholic population adequately for decades. In the 1970s and 1980s, the demographics changed, and the area's black population became dominant. The demographics of the parish changed some, but Mass attendance didn't increase.
In the 1990s, the area started going heavily Hispanic.
Although the overall population of the community hasn't increased much (at least, no significant new housing has been built in 30 or more years), the parish is now bursting at the seams. Each weekend, every Mass has overflow crowds. It's my understanding that they haul out loudspeakers so that folks can stand outside and listen to Mass.
I suspect that Catholics now make up a higher percentage of the local population, thus accounting for the increase in Mass attendance, but it appears that these Hispanic Catholics attend Mass at roughly the same levels as the previous white and black Catholics, as Mass attendance has risen concomitant with the rise in the Catholic population of the area.
sitetest