TruthBook Religious News Blog

Hispanics help reshape US Church

By Kevin Connolly
BBC News
April 14, 2008

In the remote village of Chimayo, where the mountains of New Mexico swell up out of the desert scrub, the faithful pray for miracles, and offer a clue to the pressures and influences helping to reshape modern American Catholicism.

One of the faithful gathers "holy dirt" - believed to have mystical powers

The ancient tribal peoples of the region believed that the fine, sandy soil from the local hillsides had mystical powers to heal broken bodies and broken lives, and there are plenty of 21st century American Catholics who agree with them.

The soil is kept in a small, dry, shallow well in a side chapel of the church, and the faithful queue to collect it, using a children's plastic beach shovel to pour it into containers brought from home. They touch samples of the soil to affected areas, they offer it to dying relatives, they ask priests to bless their sample. And they believe.

"I definitely felt the Holy Spirit in there; the presence is everywhere here, whether the healing is spiritual or physical," she told me.

Folk beliefs

Hispanic immigrants bring with them a vitality and a tradition of folk beliefs

Like many other churches across the south and west of the United States, the decor at the church of Chimayo and the tone of worship are set by Hispanic immigrants, who bring with them not just the Spanish language, but a vitality and a tradition of folk beliefs that are very different from the values of Catholics in the colder cities to the North.

Immigration from Latin-American countries though (and the high birth rates among those groups) are more than making up for the decline. About a half of all American Catholics under the age of 40 are Hispanics, and that proportion will continue to grow.

"Church of immigration"

Luis Lugo of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says that is simply evidence of an old historical pattern repeating itself in a new community.

"The growth (of Hispanic influence) has really been since the major changes in US immigration policy in the mid 60s, so it really would once have been very much a European Catholic church: Irish, Italian, German influence," he says.

The truth is that while Chimayo creates an awkward dilemma for the modern Church (several people there told me of miraculous cures, but there's no sign that the Catholic authorities intend to start to promoting or publicising them).

On the one hand, it inspires claims that might be difficult to substantiate under the scrutiny of modern science. But on the other, there is a spirituality to the place that helps to bring a much-needed vitality back to a Church over which the priestly child sex abuse scandals of recent times still throw a long shadow.

Damaged confidence

The crisis created difficulties at many levels, chief among them, of course, is the trauma suffered by the many victims whose suffering was eventually publicised after years of secrecy and shame.

For the Church, the cost of compensating those victims is crippling and will continue to be a drain on resources for years to come.

But perhaps more importantly, it damaged the confidence of ordinary Catholics in their priests and bishops.

Even Father Funtum, an engaging and convincing spokesman for the spiritual energy at Chimayo, had his story of being falsely accused of perversion by a parishioner who happened to see him pat a small child on the head at a church social.

That charge was absurd but it is a demonstration of the extent of how almost every conversation about American Catholicism (like mine with Father Jim) ends up being dominated by the issue of abuse.

We will know soon the extent to which Pope Benedict intends to address the subject, but it's highly unlikely that he will get through the visit without it being raised.

We already know that the Pope won't be heading for Chimayo - not this time around anyway - and in a way, it's a shame.

If he wanted to get a feeling for how the American Church will look in the future - more Hispanic, more charismatic, more populist and perhaps more mystical - he could do worse than to travel into New Mexico's mountains to see for himself.

Labels: Catholic, Chimayo, Hispanics, holy dirt, Kevin Connolly, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, religion, spirituality

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Díos Ha Muerto?

Peggy Levitt

"God is Dead," declared Nietzche, or if he wasn't yet, many people were certain he would be soon. So, when the Pew Survey finds that more and more Hispanics claim no religious identity and that their rates of church attendance decline the more time they spend in the United States, it should come as no surprise. Becoming more secular is what they are supposed to do.

Such surveys, while extremely valuable, are based on an incomplete view of religion. They assume that religion can be compartmentalized -- that just as we go to work from nine to five, so we pray on Friday or Sunday and that is that. But, for many people, religion is an all encompassing way of life. They don't just put it back in the box when they put their prayer book back in the pew. Faith guides how they live their everyday lives, who they associate with, and the kinds of communities they belong to, even among people who claim they are not religious.

Most people could not separate Irishness from Catholicism, Indianness from being Hindu, or what it means to be Pakistani from what it means to be a Muslim because they believe that religion and culture go hand and hand. They have a much broader understanding of what religion is and where to find it than many Americans. They see religion and spirituality as routinely spilling over into the workplace, the schoolyard, the health clinic, and the law office.

When people put up "saint magnets" on their refrigerator doors, light candles in honor of the Vírgen, or decorate their dashboards with photographs of their gurus, they imbue the quotidian with the sacred. When a Latino family celebrates its daughter's fifteenth birthday or a Hindu son invites his elderly parents to live with him, it is a religious as well as a "cultural" act.

What's more, many people never enter a formal house of worship to express their faith. They have no experience belonging to a single religious community with whom they pray on a regular basis. They are comfortable worshipping at any temple or mosque because faith is an individual rather than a collective affair. You can do it at home or in the park just as well as in an official sanctuary.

And, just as the walls of religious buildings are permeable, so are the boundaries between faith traditions. Many people come from countries where they have always combined elements from different faiths. Brazilian Catholicism, for example, has always incorporated indigenous, African, and Christian practices, giving followers permission to be many things at one time. Though loathe to admit it, Dominican Catholicism integrates many Haitian practices. For many people, then, boundary crossing, or combining elements from different faiths, is the rule not the exception. So when surveys sound alarms that Latino Catholics are defecting to Pentecostalism, we can safely assume that at least some people belong to two congregations at once.

While it is clear that more Hispanics claim "no religion" after they have lived for some time in this country and that their church attendance declines, this doesn't necessarily signal they are becoming less religious. Faith takes many shapes and sizes it. It rears its head in many places. To really understanding the changing dynamics of religious life, we need to know where to look.

Labels: culture, faith, Hispanics, Pew survey, religion, tradition

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Hispanics Leaving Imprint On Religion In Dallas, Across U.S.

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, April 26, 2007
By JEFFREY WEISS and DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News

A major study released Wednesday offers a close look at how Hispanics are changing the way religion is practiced in the United States – and how American culture is affecting the faith of Hispanics.

There may be no city in the country where Hispanic influence is felt greater than in Dallas. Among the American cities with the 10 largest Hispanic populations, Dallas is second only to New York in its percentage of Hispanic immigrants, according to census figures.

Since most Hispanics are Catholic, the local diocese may be the most transformed. The Dallas Diocese has swelled from about 200,000 in 1990 to about a million members today. And most of the newcomers are Hispanic.

But Catholic leaders are hardly the only religious officials concerned with Hispanics. About 20 percent of Hispanics nationwide are Protestant, according to the survey by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. And 18 percent of American Hispanics have changed their religion – mostly from Catholicism.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the two largest state Baptist groups, each have significant Hispanic outreach programs. And myriad nondenominational Hispanic churches can be found in storefronts and larger sanctuaries.

The Hispanic population of this country grew by 28 percent from 2000 to 2005. So sheer numbers mean that American church leaders want to integrate the newcomers into existing traditions. But the Pew survey identifies some ways that Hispanics do not fold smoothly into the non-Hispanic religious culture.

Many Hispanics bring a different approach to religion than can be found in many Anglo or black American churches, the survey indicated. They generally are more religious than non-Hispanics, are rooted in a more mystical, experience-driven understanding of their faith, and have powerful links to the language and customs of their homelands.

Hispanic identity is more tied up in community than the Anglo tradition that emphasizes the individual, said Mr. Reyes, president of Buckner Children and Family Services. An American church that wants to reach out to Hispanics must provide some link to that community identity, he said.

The Pew study, based on bilingual interviews of about 4,000 Hispanics nationwide, identified some broad differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanics:

• Denominations – About 68 percent of Hispanic adults identify themselves as Catholic, compared with 22 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 4 percent of non-Hispanic blacks.

• How they experience their faith – About 29 percent of Hispanics who attend worship services say they speak in tongues – a hallmark of Pentecostal or charismatic worship – compared with only 11 percent of non-Hispanics. About 45 percent of Hispanic Catholics say they have seen or received divine healing, compared with 21 percent of non-Hispanic Catholics.

• Where they choose to worship – About 66 percent of Hispanics who attend church say their church has a Spanish-speaking priest or pastor, a Spanish-language service, and a predominantly Hispanic congregation. Even for Hispanics who are third-generation or higher, about 42 percent report attending a church with all three characteristics.

That preference for Spanish language and culture fits the experience of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The convention counts more than 1,200 Hispanic churches as members. Just over half are Spanish-only and most of the rest are bilingual, with only a tiny fraction offering English-only services, said Rolando Rodriguez, the convention's director of Hispanic ministries.

The depth of the Mexican immigrant influence on Dallas religion can be seen and heard in the festivities around the Dec. 12 feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The night before, Ross Avenue frequently fills with Mexican immigrants who begin the pilgrimage carrying the Guadalupe banner to the Dallas shrine, much as they sojourn to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe on a hill named Tepeyac in Mexico City.

According to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared repeatedly to a Mexican Indian named Juan Diego in 1531 on Tepeyac Hill. Processions and other celebrations celebrating the tradition are annual affairs in Mexico – and now in Dallas.

Elizabeth Villafranca is a Guadalupe parishioner whose favorite piece of jewelry is a gold necklace with the Virgin of Guadalupe's image. Her preference for a Spanish language-friendly church matches the Pew survey results.

A visiting priest from Morelia, a central Mexican town, told her last year, "Siento que es un sucursal de Mexico," ("I feel like this is a branch of Mexico.")

The cultural connection is particularly important to Ms. Villafranca as she raises her 7-year-old daughter Natalie, a singer in the cathedral choir, she said.

"Every generation born in the United States starts to lose some tradition, but for our family it is important that she always have that connection to the roots," Ms. Villafranca said.

That search for connection can also be found in non-Catholic Hispanic churches.

When Vincent Gonzales, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, started his North Dallas Family Church, he made bilingual services his specialty.

He uses a PowerPoint presentation when reciting the Scriptures, preaching a bit in English with Spanish translations on the big screen, then preaching in Spanish while flashing the English translation. Songs of praise such as "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" carry an echoing line of "Sí, Cristo, me ama."

"The older Hispanics still prefer Spanish, but their children speak English and sometimes only English," the pastor said. "We have to speak to two worlds. We have to minister to two cultures."

Labels: Americans, Baptist, bilingual, Catholic, community, Dallas, Dianne Solis, Guadalupe, Hispanics, Jeffrey Weiss, Pentecostal, Pew survey, religion