Published: March 25, 2011
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| by Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) |
Mexicans Fill Pews, Even as Church Is Slow to Adapt
By KIRK SEMPLE ---- New York Times
By KIRK SEMPLE ---- New York Times
This is the fifth in a series of articles examining the lives and impact of New York City’s fast-growing Mexican population.
Two years ago, St. Joseph’s Church in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, seemed to be headed for extinction. Attendance at Sunday Masses had fallen below 100. The 159-year-old parish’s buildings were crumbling and its coffers were empty.
Today, the scaffolding outside bustles with workers. Sundays draw more than 300 worshipers, many of them families with small children. And where the prevailing language heard in the pews was once English, it is now overwhelmingly Spanish, with a Mexican accent.
As the Roman Catholic Church in the United States struggles with an exodus of American-born faithful, its ranks have been replenished by recent Latino immigrants — most of them Mexicans, who have brought an intense faith and a youthful energy. That buoying effect is especially evident in New York City, where the Mexican population has grown more than 25-fold since 1980...more
As the Roman Catholic Church in the United States struggles with an exodus of American-born faithful, its ranks have been replenished by recent Latino immigrants — most of them Mexicans, who have brought an intense faith and a youthful energy. That buoying effect is especially evident in New York City, where the Mexican population has grown more than 25-fold since 1980...more
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