Latinos and the Rise of Charismatic Catholicism

LATimes has a story about the influence Latinos are having on religion in the U.S., particularly the Roman Catholic Church.

The growing numbers of Latinos in the United States, and that population’s embrace of charismatic styles of worship, are reshaping the Roman Catholic Church and the nation’s religious landscape, according to a major study of Latinos and faith released Wednesday.

The study, by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, found that a majority of Latino Catholics practiced a distinctive, charismatic form of Catholicism, one that might include speaking in tongues, prophesying and other practices considered more typical of Pentecostal churches. Those traditions are much less widespread among non-Latino Catholics, who also are less likely to identify themselves as charismatics or Pentecostals, the researchers found.

. . .

About a third of all U.S. Catholics are Latinos, with that percentage considered certain to rise, alongside the growing Latino population. And about 54% of Latino Catholics surveyed identified themselves as charismatics or Pentecostals, compared to about 12% of non-Latino Catholics, the study showed.

Read the whole story.

See also:

• Catholic World News: Hispanic Americans lean toward charismatic movements, study finds
• Dallas News: Hispanics leaving imprint on religion in Dallas, across U.S.
• NYTimes: Hispanics Reshaping U.S. Catholic Church
• MSNBC: In the spirit, at the polls
• San Fransisco Chronicle: Latinos changing tenor of Christianity in U.S.

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