Report
Hispanic Ministry in Catholic Parishes by Dr. Hosffman Ospino (2014)
Hispanic Ministry in Catholic Parishes: A Summary Report of Findings from the National Study of Catholic Parishes with Hispanic Ministry by Dr. Hosffman Ospino, School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College
This is the first time that a comprehensive national study focuses solely on Catholic parishes with Hispanic ministry. Hispanics in these parishes are largely Spanish-speaking. However, most of these communities also serve a growing body of English-speaking Hispanics and are typically shared with groups of non-Hispanic Catholics. In the early 1980s it was estimated that 15 percent of all Catholic parishes served Hispanic Catholics, mostly in Spanish. Hispanics constituted about 25 percent of the entire Catholic population in the United States. Three decades later, when Hispanic Catholics are about 40 percent of the approximately 78 million Catholics in the country, 25 percent of all Catholic parishes intentionally serve Hispanics.
Catholic parishes with Hispanic ministry constitute a very important portion of the U.S. Catholic experience that needs to be better studied and understood. The findings of the National Study of Catholic Parishes with Hispanic Ministry, with its reports and publications, are instrumental to achieve that twofold goal. What we learn about parishes with Hispanic ministry today gives us a sense of what Catholic life in the United States already is in many places where Catholicism is growing vibrantly— of course, not without challenges.
The findings of the National Study of Catholic Parishes with Hispanic Ministry are an invitation to make informed decisions about ministry with Hispanic Catholics—and other Catholics sharing these faith communities. Many crucial decisions are made on a daily basis at the parish and diocesan levels that directly impact Hispanic Catholics: pastoral plans, parish reconfigurations, allocation of resources, development of materials for faith formation, vocational recruitment, hiring of new pastoral leaders, and theological formation for ministry, to name only a few.