Study on Catholic Church: Multicultural Parishes Increase as Hispanic Membership Grows in US

By Alex Murashko, CP Contributor Thursday, October 10, 2013

The percentage of multicultural Catholic parishes in the U.S. is on the increase, according to research by the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). The report also indicates that some 29.7 million U.S. residents who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino are estimated to be Catholic, representing about 59 percent of the 50.5 million people of this race in the country.

Membership of Hispanics in the Catholic Church is growing, reaching to 38 percent, according to the study as presented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Non-Hispanic whites are still the majority at 54 percent of the national Catholic population.

The study, Cultural Diversity in the Catholic Church in the United States, was done to help estimate the size and distribution of Black or African American, Asian American or Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino, and American Indian or Alaskan Native Catholic populations in the United States, as well as the locations of Catholic parishes known to serve these communities.

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CARA located parishes that self-identify as serving or are known to serve racial, ethnic, cultural, and/or linguistic groups in the nation to create the first comprehensive listing and mapping of multicultural parishes. This research was commissioned by the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church of the USCCB. 

CARA estimates there are approximately 6,700 multicultural parishes in the United States, many located in the South and West. The Official Catholic Directory lists more than 17,400 parishes in the country. In a second phase of this study, CARA will conduct in-pew surveys of parishioners in a national random sample of these parishes.

CARA's research on multicultural parishes has found these to be, on average, larger than parishes in general. Multicultural parishes average 1,445 registered households, compared to 1,168 for parishes in general. Overall, about three in ten U.S. parishes (29 percent or 5,000) celebrate at least one Mass a month in a language other than English or Latin.

Nationally, CARA estimates that:

• Approximately 42.5 million U.S. residents who self-identify as non-Hispanic white are Catholic, which represents 22 percent of people in the nation of this race and ethnicity.
• Some 29.7 million U.S. residents who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino are estimated to be Catholic, representing about 59 percent of the 50.5 million people of this race and ethnicity in the country.
• Approximately 3.6 million U.S. residents who self-identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander are estimated to be Catholic, representing about 20 percent of this race and ethnicity in this country.
• Approximately 2.9 million U.S. residents who self-identify as black, African American, African or Afro-Caribbean are estimated to be Catholic, representing about 8 percent of the 38.9 million people of this race and ethnicity in the U.S.
• Some 535,500 U.S. residents who self-identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native are estimated to be Catholic, representing about 18 percent of the 2.9 million people of this race and ethnicity in this country.

Arch/dioceses with an estimated 90,000-plus Black/African American/African Catholics include Atlanta; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Los Angeles; and New York.

Arch/dioceses with an estimated 90,000-plus Asian/Pacific Islander Catholics include Brooklyn, Honolulu, Seattle, and six arch/dioceses in California: Los Angeles, Oakland, Orange, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose.

Arch/dioceses with an estimated 90,000-plus Hispanic/Latino Catholics include Allentown, Pa.; Arlington, Va.; Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Boston; Bridgeport, Conn.; Brooklyn; Brownsville, Texas; Camden, NJ; Charleston, SC; Charlotte, NC; Chicago; Corpus Christi, Texas; Dallas; Denver; El Paso, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; Galveston-Houston; Hartford, Conn.; Joliet, Ill.; Laredo, Texas; Las Cruces, NM; Las Vegas, NV; Little Rock, Ark.; Los Angeles; Lubbock, Texas; Metuchen, NJ; Miami; Milwaukee; Monterey, Calif.; New York, Newark, NJ; Oakland; Oklahoma City; Orange, Fla.; Orlando, Fla.; Palm Beach, Fla.; Paterson, NJ; Philadelphia, Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Pueblo, Colo.; Raleigh, NC; Richmond, Va.; Rockford, Ill.; Rockville Centre, NY; Sacramento; Salt Lake City; San Angelo, Texas; San Antonio; San Bernardino, Calif.; San Diego, San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; Santa Fe, NM; Santa Rosa, Calif.; Seattle; St. Paul and Minneapolis; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Stockton, Calif.; Trenton, NJ; Tucson, Ariz.; Tyler, Texas; Venice, Fla.; Washington; and Yakima, Wash.

CARA is a national, non-profit, Georgetown University affiliated research center that conducts social scientific studies about the Catholic Church. Founded in 1964, CARA has three major dimensions to its mission: to increase the Church's self-understanding, to serve the applied research needs of Church decision-makers, to advance scholarly research on religion, particularly Catholicism. CARA's longstanding policy is to let research findings stand on their own and never take an advocacy position or go into areas outside its social science competence.

The Cultural Diversity in the Catholic Church in the United States study can be found at www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/cultural-diversity/upload/cultural-diversity-cara-report-phase-1.pdf.