"Loving Thy Neighbor: How Latin American Immigration Revived the U.S. Catholic Church.

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Author
Jimenez, Caroline J.
Keyword
First Reader Leandro D. Benmergui
Senior Project
Semester Fall 2024
Readers/Advisors
Benmergui, Leandro D.
Term and Year
Fall 2024
Date Published
2024

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URI
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/16188
Abstract
This thesis examines Latin American immigration from 1950-2001, analyzing its profound impact on U.S. Catholicism. Through archival research and analysis of oral testimonies, this study challenges the notion that Spanish speakers are a minority in the U.S. Catholic Church by demonstrating how the decades-long development of Hispanic Ministry reshaped the Church's identity. Unlike Catholic immigrants of the past who had national parishes, Latin American immigrants used creativity and advocacy to establish cultural enclaves within parishes originally designed for assimilation. This research challenges the modernization theory that immigrants maintaining cultural and religious traditions are backward. Instead, their advocacy and preservation of traditions compelled the Church to implement progressive accommodations. Hispanic clergy and laity, influential in discussions of liberation theology and human rights, gained institutional representation in U.S. bishops' conferences, with their ideas integrated into U.S. Hispanic ministry. Although efforts to nationalize these initiatives slowed in the 1990s, continued immigration led to growing Hispanic membership in parishes across the United States. Latin American immigration has become inseparable from the U.S. Catholic Church's history, and its future is Latino. The case study of Port Chester's Our Lady of Mercy Parish (Don Bosco) illuminates an underrepresented group in the U.S. Catholic Church's history. This research examines how Hispanic ministry evolved from 1970-2001 through the parish's interaction with Latin American immigrants. It explores how Hispanic ministry served a multinational Spanish-speaking community, revealing both progress and tensions between Latin American leaders and Euro-American clergy. The Spanish Mass, legitimized as central to the Catholic institution with attention to both spiritual and physical needs, transcended mere translation to become a "piece of home" for many Latinos. Keywords: Latin American Immigration, U.S. Catholic Church, Hispanic Ministry, Cultural Preservation, Religious Identity, Port Chester.
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