A quarter of US Catholic parishes have a Spanish Mass, bishops’ survey says

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn(RNS) — More than a quarter of U.S. Catholic parishes have at least one Spanish Mass and another 17% have a Latino presence or ministry, according to a new survey released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.The survey, conducted between April and August of this year, revealed significant diversity in the availability of Spanish Masses and Latino ministry in different U.S. dioceses.
Three U.S. dioceses — the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania; the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota; and the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan — had no Spanish Masses or Hispanic ministry when the survey was conducted.
In the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexican border, every one of its 72 parishes features a Spanish Mass. In most dioceses in Texas, California and Utah, the vast majority of parishes offer Spanish Masses.
The survey is intended to help the U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders to implement the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, a program approved by the USCCB last year that aims to strengthen ministry in Latino communities.
“Surveys like this are vital to understand and address the response of the Church to the needs and aspirations of our Hispanic/Latino communities,” Bishop Oscar Cantú, chair of the bishops conference’s subcommittee on Hispanic affairs, said in a statement.
Cantú, who leads the Catholic Diocese of San Jose, California, cited limited resources and num …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]