Hispanic Americans abandon Catholic faith, leaving Church at striking rate
Voice of Russia
The Catholic Church is facing an unprecedented challenge in the US with more and more believers leaving Catholicism, abandoning church teaching and becoming religiously unaffiliated.
According to the New York Times, Hispanics, who are considered the "future of Catholicism" in America, are leaving the Church at a striking rate: nearly one-quarter of Hispanic people in the United States are former Catholics, 'the Pew' Research survey indicates;
"The share of Hispanics who are Catholic has likely been in decline for at least the last few decades. But as recently as 2010, Pew Research polling found that fully two-thirds of Hispanics (67%) were Catholic. That means the Catholic share has dropped by 12 percentage points in just the last four years," the Pew Research report reads.
The religious affiliation of Hispanics is an issue of prime importance for the Roman Catholic Church in the United States because they constitute a substantial and growing fraction of the American population. It should also be noted that practically all Hispanic immigrants arriving in the US are Catholic, making their later religious choices particularly significant for the Church’s leadership.
Although Pew found no single reason for change in religious preferences among Hispanic Americans, experts suggest that the religious life in the US could also be an influence. The share of non-religious Americans has increased to about 20 percent in recent years, according to the Associated Press.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, expresses growing concern over the problem in her blog, writing: “"Everyone, including Hispanics, and especially young ones, can fall prey to what has become a new American problem, religious relativism where, perhaps inspired by exciting music or a rousing preacher, you move from your parents’ church to another or to no church at all."
"It is scary to consider that religious relativism may be the greatest threat that exists to the increasingly important Hispanic Catholic community," she added.