May 13, 2002

New study notes shift of Hispanic Protestants
___By Dalia Dabbous
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--While a strong majority of Latinos in the United States are Roman Catholic, there has been a generational shift to Protestantism, according to a major new study.
___But the study also found that Hispanic Catholics and Protestants share many of the same views on public issues.
___"It's democracy in America. People have choices. ... It runs all the way across from the voting booth to the churches we select," said Olga Villa Parra, former executive director of the Midwest Hispanic Catholic Commission at the University of Notre Dame.
___According to the study, "Hispanic Churches in American Public Life," the number of Protestants in the American Hispanic population increased from 18 percent to 32 percent across three generations, while the number of Catholics declined from 74 percent to 59 percent over the same period. Overall, 71 percent of Hispanics today are Catholic.
___The study was based on a national telephone survey of 2,310 Hispanics, a mailed survey of 434 Hispanic civic and religious leaders and community profiles of 45 congregations and 256 clergy and laity. It targeted rural Latinos as well as urban Hispanics and people in predominantly Hispanic and non-Hispanic churches. The three-year study was funded by a $1.3 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trust and overseen by a group of predominantly Hispanic scholars from major American universities. Researchers said it had a margin of error of 1.1 percent.
___"This is one of the first national studies to bring together Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelicals, Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and other world religions," said the project's manager, Gaston Espinosa.
___Some Hispanic members of the audience attending the May 2-3 conference at which the report was released attributed the shift to aggressive outreach efforts by Protestant churches and more opportunities for youth involvement.
___Espinosa agreed and said he believes the shift also is due to the smaller size of some Protestant congregations, which makes them more interactive and personal--factors often missing in many Catholic churches because of their large membership.
___Despite the shifts, however, Hispanic Catholics and Protestants share similar views on issues such as education, the public role of the church and the role of women in the church.
___Most Protestants and Catholics who were asked about prayer in schools said they support such a policy. In a separate question, a large number of respondents from both groups voiced support for school vouchers to be used at private schools.
___Fifty-six percent of Protestants and 49 percent of Catholics surveyed agreed women should be ordained into the ministry. Additionally, at least half the respondents surveyed from both groups said the church should be more involved in public life.
___In other findings, the study found 94 percent of Latinos identify themselves as Christian and 45 percent said they attend religious services once a week or more.

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