Expression, Not Confession Latino Twentysomething Confessional Mobility

Expression, Not Confession
Latino Twentysomething Confessional Mobility
by Rodolpho Carrasco
in Re:generation Quarterly 1995
(Rodolpho Carrasco is associate director of Harambee Christian Family Center in Pasadena, Calif. and a columnist for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Check out more articles by Rodolpho Carrasco here.)

There was a time when being a Latino in the U.S. also meant identifying oneself as Catholic. Not anymore.

Studies by Protestant and Catholic demographers reveal that 23% of the 27 million U.S. Latinos, or just over six million, today identify themselves as Protestant. The percentage of Latinos identifying themselves as Catholic hovers around 70%, or 19 million. Clearly the majority of Latinos remain Catholic, but the percentage of Protestants is astounding given that Latino Protestants numbered 100,000 as recently as 1970. When nearly 1 in 4 Latinos is a Protestant, the term "Catholic" is no longer a synonym for "Latino."

The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, Time Magazine and Christianity Today, leaders at church and denominational headquarters, and many others are trying to understand what this shifting of confessional identities -- confessional mobility -- by Latinos means. Understanding this shift is a matter of great importance, given that Latinos will be our nation's largest minority group early next century. While the U.S. Latino community is no monolith -- differences between Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Ecuadorians are at times very pronounced -- it is possible to speak of a collective "Latino" presence, especially as it relates to considerations of mass social and religious import.

As we explore the dimensions of Latino confessional mobility, we who are believers must not overlook a factor of critical importance. Pollster George Barna says that next Sunday, only three out of ten Latinos will attend church. We can probe and write and debate all we want about shifting Latino confessional allegiance. But if Latinos are not living out faith in Christ through a committed body of believers, what good is it that we "identify" ourselves with one confession or the other? Both questions -- "Why the shift?" and "Why not in church?" -- must be explored.

A look into these questions yields urgent challenges. The indicators of Latino religious affiliation point to one salient conclusion: What Latinos are looking for is not found so much in the confession as in the expression. For those interested in ministry to Latinos, internalizing the Latino's felt need for expression over confession carries a deadline. While we stew and muddle over new ministry paradigms, Latino Twentysomethings slip away from faith in Christ and church life at an unprecedented rate.

Why The Shift?
Let us start with the growing numbers of new Latino Protestants as well as with the statistic that seven out of ten Latinos will not attend church this Sunday. It seems apparent from these statistics that, while most Latinos started life as Catholics, we either left Catholicism for the Protestant confession or for none at all. So what's our problem with Catholicism?

That question is pondered and peddled by a host of Catholic and Protestant clergy. The most up-to-date writings on this subject tend to focus on the experience of first generation, immigrant Latinos, those who are most responsible for the rapid growth of the entire U.S. Latino population as well as that of Latino Protestants.

Jesuit priest Allan Figueroa Deck of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles writes in the 1993 YEARBOOK OF AMERICAN AND CANADIAN CHURCHES that the Latino movement to Protestantism can be attributed to "significant numbers of Latinos, particularly struggling immigrants and the poor, who remain unimpressed with the middle class serenity, order and cool rationalism" of U.S. Catholic churches. Protestants are quick to agree. Theologian Manuel Ortiz of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia writes in his book THE HISPANIC CHALLENGE that "historically, the Catholic church's ministry to immigrants on the national level has been identified with the church of the middle and upper classes, leaving many Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Central Americans feeling rejected."

So the Protestants figured out how to relate to Latino immigrants? It's not that simple. Deck, writing in HISPANIC CATHOLIC CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES, notes that it is not the mainline denominations -- the Methodists, Presbyterians, or Lutherans -- that are attracting impressive numbers of Latinos. While "Hispanic Catholic immigrants find their U.S. Catholic counterparts much more affluent, more educated, and, as a result, more distant from them socially and culturally... (Hispanic Catholic immigrants) find mainline Protestants equally or even more distant that their U.S. Catholic contemporaries," Deck writes.

If the booming growth of Latino Protestants is located outside of mainline Catholicism and Protestantism, outside the confessions of each, what's causing it?

Catholic and Protestant Latino church leaders such as Deck, Ortiz, Dr. Jesse Miranda of Azusa Pacific University, Dr. Eldin Villafañe of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a multitude of others posit explanations best summed up by the phrase "by the people and for the people." In non-mainline, "Pentecostal/evangelical" churches, the experience of Christianity has been indigenized to the experience of Latino immigrants. Churches are established in barrios where the people live. Ministers come from among the people themselves. Worship styles feature affective prayer and worship, mirroring the emotivity evident in all Latino cultures. The language of the people, Spanish, is used freely. The desire for a personal faith is fulfilled as the believer accesses God directly through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. As an antidote to the impersonal nature of institutions and cities, the smallness of most congregations approximates the rural, village settings from which many Latino immigrants come. The result of all this is an expression of faith that is more in tune with the experience of the Latino immigrant than the expressions found in most mainline churches.

Thus the body of Latino Protestants grows. But keep in mind that this understanding of Latino Protestant growth so far has only addressed Latino immigrants. U.S.-raised Latino Protestant Twentysomethings take the "Expression over Confession" paradigm to a new level.

We Are Not Our Parents
The Untold Story: Many Latino Twentysomethings, especially those raised in the U.S. by immigrant parents, reject their parents' church in the same way their parents reject the mainline Catholic and Protestant churches. This phenomenon manifests itself most clearly among Latino Protestants.

The majority of Latino Protestant churches cater to the first, immigrant generation. In addition to the Latino church description above, keep in mind the following. The language at church, Spanish, is used primarily to the exclusion of English. The service may last two or three hours. The atmosphere tends to reflect a stern fundamentalism characterized by stringent dress codes, disavowal of "worldly" influences, and a heaven-and-hell theology preached frequently. The elders, nearly always male, lead over all others and make the most important decisions.

The children of the first generation often want something different. We who watch American television, attend American public schools, and have American friends have another way of looking at the world -- and at our parents' church. We like shorter services. We question the dress codes. We wonder if "the world" is all that bad. We ask if these and other aspects of Latino church culture can't change a little. The answers our parents give us do not address our concerns; "That's how we do it" or "Because I/God say so" don't cut it for young people learning the lesson of American democracy: I have a voice. It's not that we are in total opposition to our parents. It's that we are both. We love family and church, and we respect our elders. But we also like the self-definition of democracy, the equality of adults, the possibility of making old things new. As one teenager recently told me, "We want to be involved--in our own way."

Perhaps the greatest point of involvement -- or lack of it -- is the use of English. Latino Twentysomethings by definition speak English well. [Note: The 22-year-old Latino immigrant who has been in the U.S. for four years is not a "Twentysomething" as that term connotes a cultural experience foreign to those raised outside the U.S.] Some Latino Twentysomethings speak English as well as Spanish and desire a service that includes both. Others speak English much better than Spanish and prefer a predominantly English worship service. Together these two types of Latino Twentysomethings -- who make up nearly all Latino Twentysomethings -- make a strong argument for Latino churches to amend their ways.

But most Latino Protestant churches have failed to respond to the desires of Latino Twentysomethings regarding terms of involvement and language -- our "expression" -- and devastating results are showing. Like mainline Catholic and Protestant churches, Latino churches are not immune to attrition. Rev. Luis Madrigal, Executive Director of the Hispanic Association of Bilingual Bicultural Ministries (HABBM), a national association of churches and ministries targeting second and third generation Latinos, has probed into Latino religious survey data and uncovered facts that many Latino Protestant clergy would just as soon not know.

A study by researcher Cliff Holland commissioned by HABBM puts the number of Latinos in Protestant churches at approximately 1.5 million out of a total of 6 million. Where are the other 4.5 million? Many are not in church at all, as Barna's statistics suggest. But Madrigal adds that perhaps another 1.5 million -- including many Twentysomethings -- are "quite possibly in English-speaking, White-dominant congregations." While this is good news on the spiritual side, considering that 1.5 million Latino Protestants are finding spiritual sustenance somewhere, it's bad news for Latino Protestant churches experiencing a brain drain and a money drain. For to be effective in evangelism and community outreach, Latino churches need creative leaders as well as financial resources to accomplish the task. But Latino Twentysomethings raised in the church with leadership skills and holding greater earning power than their parents often leave for reasons of expression outlined above. The result is largely ineffective Latino churches in communities of great need.

And what about the Latino Twentysomething in a White-dominant church? Numbers are hard to find, but numerous interviews show that many Latinos tend not to stay for the long term. The reason is the same: expression. These Latinos may reject their parents' church because it touches only half of them -- the Latino half -- but they may also reject the White-dominant church because it reaches their American half but neglects this Latino's need for intimacy in worship and church life, for cultural understanding, and for deep acceptance.

Regarding the rejection of our parents' religious expression from the Catholic side, the matter is much less complicated. Latino Catholic Twentysomethings desire a relevant religious expression much as their Protestant peers do, but bypass the messy business of rejecting their parents' religious expression. When only 10-15% of all Latino Catholics attend mass weekly, and when a great portion of Latino Catholics relate to Catholicism more out of culture than orthodox belief, there is not as much parental religious expression to reject.

Our Expression
If it is true that Latino Twentysomethings are rejecting their parents' religious expressions, are there expressions we affirm as our own? My answer is a tentative yes.

Using Barna's church attendance figure (a dubious indicator of orthodox faith in some ways, but useful to our purpose here), only three out of ten Latinos attend church weekly. But for Latino Twentysomethings, that figure is closer to two out of ten. Religious survey data of all sorts indicate that the majority of the faithful tend to be older (30+) and married with children that they bring to church with them. Therefore it is reasonable to assume two out of ten for a population that is young, unmarried or recently married, and enjoying the newfound freedom of adulthood. The struggle over religious expression that has made spectators of many Latinos is even more pronounced among Latino Twentysomethings -- but there is hope.

Catholics and Protestants have both stepped up efforts to reach Latino Twentysomethings.

Springing up all over the Catholic church are renewal Catholic churches that marry Pentecostal-type worship expression, free use of English and Spanish, and a greater level of personal involvement with traditional Catholic theology and community. These churches are responding to Catholics who leave for Protestant churches but eventually desire to return. Marco De Leon and Michael Borges both returned recently to Holy Cross Catholic Church in the Bronx, New York after years in Protestant churches. At Holy Cross they fellowship with a growing number of Latino Twentysomethings revitalizing their Catholic ways, including a few who recently caught the attention of the New York Times for an innovative community youth outreach program.

Beyond the renewal of local churches, lay Catholic movements catch other Latino Twentysomethings, reports Patrick Madrid of Catholic Answers, an evangelistic/apologetic outreach of the Catholic church headquartered in San Diego, California. Among these movements are Opus Dei, Regnum Christi, and Hombre Nuevo. Opus Dei ("Work of God" in Latin), a movement strong in both Mexico and the U.S., helps young people life a life of chastity and fidelity to the Gospel. Regnum Christi ("Kingdom of Christ") is a lay apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ rooted in Latino culture. Hombre Nuevo, also operated by the Legionaries of Christ, is known for a unique outreach to Latino Catholics that engages and challenges popular culture, as opposed to simply repudiating it. Madrid reports growth in the ranks of all three movements, though he acknowledges that the Catholic church still has a long way to go in reaching Latino Twentysomethings.

For Protestants, Latino Twentysomething outreach grows among both established and independent churches. Rock of Salvation in East Los Angeles is an Assemblies of God church that has operated in Spanish for over thirty years, but launched an English-language service this January when church leaders felt burdened to reach English-dominant Latinos. Pastor Albert Perez of CRYY Christian Fellowship in San Jose used to lead a rock band in street ministry on the weekends. But Perez launched his church after discovering that many English-dominant Latinos in his audiences felt unwelcomed by both Spanish-language Latino churches and mainstream White churches. The typical service in these English-dominant Latino churches is just what Latino Twentysomethings are looking for: "It's a lot like their parents' church, but the service is not so long, the music is more contemporary, it's mostly in English, and they have more of a say in what happens," reports Emilio Reyes, pastor of an English-dominant church in Miami, Florida.

At a national level, Network 2000 is a Southern Baptist, Texas-based movement that focuses on planting churches among acculturated, second and third generation Hispanics. Dallas-based Hispanic Single Adult Leadership Training (His S.A.L.T.) is a nondenominational vehicle for leadership development among single adult Hispanics. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship brings together Latino college students from greater New York through La Fe Fellowship. And HABBM, headquartered in Pasadena, California, is building a national network of all these and other English-dominant Latino outreach organizations.

These signs of hope in Latino Twentysomething outreach are indeed promising. But with approximately eight out of ten Latino Twentysomethings not involved in church life, there is clearly much more to be done.

What About The Confessions?
Some may express concern that I have not addressed distinctions in Catholic and Protestant confessions of faith, nor advocated that Latino Twentysomethings must choose one particular confessional tradition over the other. Space here permits me to say only sthat I am an Evangelical Latino with a number of Latino Catholic friends who share my understanding of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, that which is common in the "Born Again" and "Charismatic Catholic" experiences. But to my knowledge, in 1995 there are too few Latinos of both confessions who know God through Jesus in this way, and I believe my time is best spent leading my peers to personal faith in Jesus Christ, rather than debating confessional distinctions.

This overview of Latino Twentysomething confessional mobility does not reflect the perspectives of all Latinos. There are second generation Latinos who are committed to and content in Spanish-speaking Latino churches. There are second generation Latinos who feel likewise about their English-speaking, White-dominant church. There are third and fourth generation Latinos who only relate to Spanish-dominant Latinos when visiting their grandparents. And there are bi-racial Latinos who may see everything differently. But for the majority of Latinos raised in the U.S., this overview is accurate. The Latino population growth surge of the past twenty-five years has been fueled by immigration, and now the children of these immigrants are young adults uncomfortable pouring their new wine into old wineskins.

But we haven't seen anything yet. While my generation of Latino Twentysomethings searches for its own unique faith expression, young people in the generation behind us -- 9.4 million Latinos ages 17 and under -- are starting to complain to their parents that they don't like going to church.

The copyright for these materials are owned by Rudy Carrasco.  These materials were use with permission by TechMission