The rapidly changing realities of the Catholic Church in the U.S. bring a host of challenges and unknowns, but also great opportunities for evangelization and engagement, said experts at a gathering of Catholic leaders.
“The future of U.S. Catholicism is being forged in areas once not central to U.S. Catholic life,” said Dr. Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College. “Are we paying attention?”
Dr. Ospino spoke at the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America” event on July 2 in Orlando, Florida.
He explained to more than 3,500 attendees from parishes and Catholic organizations around the country how the face of the Church in the United States is rapidly changing. In particular, he pointed to the rapid growth throughout the nation, particularly in the South and West of Hispanic communities. He also noted swift growth of other faith communities, particularly Asian Catholic communities and, within some localities, communities of immigrants from Africa.
These changes have swiftly changed the face of American Catholic life. Fifty years ago, over 80 percent of American Catholics were of European descent. Today, that number is less than 50 percent, with 40 percent of all Catholics claiming Latino heritage, 5 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, 4 percent African-American and 1 percent of Catholics of Native American descent.
Among Catholics under the age of 30, those numbers are even more diverse.
To address these very shifts in American Catholic life, Catholics should imagine what the future of the Church will look like, Ospino said.
Ospino also suggested Catholics reimagine their relationship with the public square. He warned that the ‘culture wars’ which have been a marker of American discourse in recent decades have hampered, in some cases, the Church’s ability to speak effectively to communities on the margins.
“It has become impossible to speak about anything because one is expected to take an ideological position to make a point,” he commented.
“The Gospel, my friends, is not an ideology, to be a co-opted to advance an ideological position. The Gospel is a message of life and communion,” Ospino said to applause.
Dr. Ospino’s talk was followed by a panel discussion, describing the different ways the Church is growing and changing in the United States.
Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt, SJ, executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, explained that demographic changes in the United States do not apply just to Latino Catholics, but to all sections of the Church in the United States. He noted that populations of U.S. Catholic life are shifting away from the historic centers in the Northeast to booming job markets in the South and West. In addition, he noted, shifts are impacting African-American and Asian communities.
Franciscan Father Agustino Torres, CFR, works extensively with Latino youth in New York City and explained that Latino youth – one of the largest growing populations of Catholics in the United States, “don’t want just a program,” but an example of the Church’s message. He pointed to the Church’s teaching on love and sexuality as a concrete example of doctrine that youth can apply to their lives, finding Christ in the process.
“It makes the Church relevant to young people,” Fr. Torres said.
Daniel Owens, who spoke with his wife Melanie on the powerful encounter of love provided in the Church’s message of chastity, echoed Fr. Torres’ insights, saying that he sees a “real opportunity” in sharing the message of the Gospel, and added that the Theology of the Body has the unique ability to speak to the questions many youth face today.
Outside of any specific program or message, however, Fr. Torres stressed the importance of encounter, particularly when reaching out to young people. Within many cultures, particularly Latino youth, young people feel torn between different cultures and identities asking for their attention.
“If the Church were to say ‘you belong here, this is your home,’ you’re going to get an army of missionary disciples,” he said.
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
Another waste-of-money, pretend-we’re-doing-something-meaningful conference that will result in nothing. Talk, talk, talk, share, share, share, report, report, report. Nothing changes. Nothing meaningful gets done.
The Catholic Church in America is hurting. Numbers (getting smaller by the year) in the pew are misleading because many nominal Catholics hold stances that are at odds with Church doctrine.
The conference reeks of desperation and deceptive self-reassurance on the part of prelates. Oh, look how DIVERSE we are now! Who cares? Look at all the grey hair and empty seats on Sundays. What will the church look like in thirty years? Smaller.
Well-stated, Covfefe. Catholic Church in US is seriously declining by all objective measures.
Meanwhile, recently named Francis-Cardinal Joseph Tobin (Newark) spent considerable time in a recent interview with the liberal French Catholic magazine La Croix assailing Donald Trump’s politics 9″He is making people appeal to their ‘dark side'”–a HIllary-Podesta line straight from the campaign) and even criticizing fellow Bp. Samuel Aquila.
So much for “Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s..” (Mk. 12:17) (Actually, today’s hierarchy has forgotten the 2nd part of Our Lord’s teaching.)
It appears that Catholic leaders like Tobin (add in McElroy, San Diego) should run for elective political office: they missed their…
Urban, suburban and, surprisingly, rural parishioners have seen this happen.
I forgot to append this link: https://international.la-croix.com/news/take-care-of-the-latinos-serve-the-future-of-the-church/5467
And this: https://international.la-croix.com/news/for-every-person-baptized-the-us-church-loses-six-catholics/5464
This is an important article because it gives us data about the changing church to which we belong. We all have our favorite memories of the parish in which we grew up or in which we raised our kids. But, for the majority of us that world doesn’t exist anymore, not because of VII, but because of demographic changes. City populations continue to move to the burbs, emptying churches. Ethnic city churches no longer fill a need for those who have assimilated and moved out of the ethnic neighborhoods. The Hispanics moved in to fill the void, and they too will be somewhere else in fifty years. The Pastors must change to meet the needs of the people moving into the neighborhoods or they too will close. Its a new world for those of us with…
Don’t worry, Bob, everything is fine, everything is fine.
And all this diversity has not brought Catholics together, only more separated by language and cultural sensibilities highlighted at Mass. The European Catholics had their cultural communities, but the Mass, in Latin, was a great unifying force. We do not have that today, and Masses that stray into culturalism split parishes into language and ethnic camps.
Great point, Kristin. Latin is a unifier.
Absolutely!
Get use to it folks the Church in the West is in its Death throes, as the link provided by Mr. McCrea for every baptism, six people leave the Church. No institution can survive those stats, yes the Church will retreat to small Faithful and Traditional communities, no it will not be the Spirit of Vatican 2 Bob One that save the Church but adherence to tradition. The failed clerics who let this disaster occur will answer for much before Christ the Judge.
There is a book by Fr. Elias Friedman (a Catholic priest), called Jewish Identify. It was written about 1987, and he foretold the apostasy of most of the Gentiles from the Church. He called it the time of the Ingrafting as St. Paul mentioned. He said that with the ingrafting of the Jewish people into the Church, some Gentiles will return also, as their understanding of the continuity between the Old and New Testaments will improve. There are a lot of Jewish converts on EWTN and Immaculate Heart Radio.
The Lord Jesus also mentions the return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem in Luke 21:24: And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captives into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles til the times of the nations be fulfilled.
I’m wondering how they determined the percent of European descended Catholics. Did they count as Catholics those who merely identify as Catholic or only those who actually sit in a pew each Sunday?
As I recall, I remember seeing a statistic that placed the number of European descended Catholics who actually attend Mass weekly as only about 25% to 50% higher than that of Europe. If my recollection is accurate, it infers that there’s something about the evolution of Western culture that is killing authentic spirituality. If it weren’t for Latin American immigration, our pews would be sparsely populated.
The problem is the Church gives no compelling reasons why anyone should believe the Gospel or attend Mass. Catholics who stop going to Mass and who stop believing what the Church teaches soon find that their lives are just the same without the Church, which leads to the question, “What is the Church good for?”
Especially with universal salvation creeping into the Church, there is even less reason for anyone to bother with the Gospel or Mass. If everyone’s saved regardless, why bother with the Church?
The Church appears to many people to be irrelevant, outdated, unnecessary, and foolish. The Church has many problems to overcome.
So, Covfefe, if you are correct, and I think you are, what must the church do to re relevant, up to date, necessary and not foolish? For those who go to church regularly, we see the church differently. How do we bring the people back? We must, I think, start with the way we train our Priests. The likely need a lot less philosophy and theology and more classes in counseling and social work, family counseling, etc. They need to learn to be great preachers. They need administrative skills and management skills so they can be effective leaders. Once we have good leaders we can start thinking about how to sell salvation to people who don’t believe in God.
Bob One your response is beyond predictable, you honestly believe a priest should not be trained in theology??/ Sorry Bob One but you are wrong once again, we don’t social workers, psychologists, or guidance counselors, we need good and holy priest.
Well Bohemond, you got me there. I really meant to say that seminarians don’t need as much philosophy and theology or we need to add another year of practical courses. What does a Priest do? He says Mass for an hour each day and many times on weekends. The rest of his week is taken up with group meetings, hospital meetings, home visits, jail visits, wakes, etc. Those are all about counseling, family phych, finding homes for people, giving out food and motel vouchers for needy families. You can do all that and be holy at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive. Fast growing parishes have Priest who have learned how to work in the community.
Bob One do you ever tire of being wrong all of the time….Seminarians need to be strongly rooted in the theology so that they can lead souls to heaven when they are ordained as priests. But I honestly believe that you do not believe in sin, of course unless its “hate speech” or “being judgemental” , so there is no need for leading souls to heaven. Your kind wants the Church to be nothing more than a social service agency.
I don’t care what the “Face” of the Church looks like. I only care about the reverence and holiness of the liturgy at this point. If I could only find ONE Mass that is reliable where one priest doesn’t trot up and down the aisles at the exchange of the sign of peace or the priest who reminds everyone about his Jesuit education or the priest who omits the words “lamb of God” at every Mass.
just sick of this…
Keith, right on! I’m with you in being desperate for reverence and holiness. We don’t need the liturgical abuse of ad-libbing, more chattering than praying, etc. Some priests need to be reminded about the prayers as they are in the Roman Missal. “No priest may…” change or add what is in the Missal. No wonder Cardinal Sarah has called for silence, ad orientem worship, etc. He really “gets it”. We must pray for our priests.
‘with 40 percent of all Catholics claiming Latino heritage’
Most of the HISPANICS are MESTIZOS, one parent European (Spain) and one native. There are countries like Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and parts of Brazil that have a large descendants of Europeans.