What veteran parishes can teach us: How long-serving Spanish-language ministries successfully integrate Latinos within the parish

Abstract

Catholic parishes in the United States have included Hispanics for centuries, but large numbers of multi-racial parishes engaged in Hispanic ministry have emerged in the past few decades. Research on non-Catholic congregations suggests positives and negatives for members in multi-racial settings, but sources of multi-racial Catholic parish formation are distinct enough to suggest different possible outcomes. We use data from the National Study of Catholic Parishes with Hispanic Ministry (Ospino, 2015) to assess the integration of various Hispanic sub-groups within parishes. We distinguish parishes by time period in which they began serving Hispanics and highlight the relative success of veteran parishes (those who began Spanish-language ministry prior to 1980). Importantly, veteran parishes are more likely to consistently celebrate bilingual liturgies and to be disproportionately composed of Latinos. Both factors help explain veteran parishes’ greater success in integrating immigrant Latinos.