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Press Releases
Statistics on the Hispanic/Latino Population in the U.S.
48.4 million — The estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2009, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority. Hispanics constituted 16 percent of the nation's total population. In addition, there are approximately 4 million residents of Puerto Rico, a Caribbean U.S. territory.
Catholic Education Chair Lauds Notre Dame’s Initiative to Improve Access to Catholic Schools for Latino Children
WASHINGTON—Bishop Thomas J. Curry, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Catholic Education and auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, praised an initiative to improve access to Catholic schools for Latino children.
The initiative was designed by the Notre Dame Task Force on the Participation of Latino Children and Families in Catholic Schools. The report “To Nurture the Soul of a Nation: Latino Families, Catholic Schools, and Educational Opportunity” was made public December 12. The task force has set a goal of enrolling one million Hispanic children in Catholic schools by 2020, doubling the percentage of Latinos in Catholic school from 3 percent to 6 percent.
Hispanic Bishops Meet with Latino Legislators, Others in Congress on Policy Issues Most Affecting Hispanics
Immigration reform, health care, education, housing, poverty on agenda
Bishops offer Catholic social teaching principles to help in public debate
WASHINGTON—At a series of meetings at Capitol Hill, a delegation of Hispanic Bishops discussed with Democrat and Republican legislators of both houses, four areas of deep concern and offered principles of Catholic social teaching to help in the current debates.
Archbishop José Gomez of San Antonio, Texas, led the September 17 delegation, representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“The bishops are keenly aware of the substantial contributions Hispanic communities make to the prosperity and well-being of the United States,” said Archbishop Gomez. “Yet those same communities suffer under the weight of a broken immigration policy, as well as lack of access to quality education, adequate medical care and economic opportunities.”
Congratulations! |
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Bishop-elect of Pueblo Rev. Fernando Isern |
Most Reverend Luis Rafael Zarama |
Census Facts for Hispanic Heritage Month Sept. 15 -Oct. 15, 2009
Churches working to ensure everyone is counted in 2010 US census
By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Churches have a crucial role to play in ensuring that everyone is counted on Census Day 2010, April 1.
That's the message Alejandro Aguilera-Titus and Beverly Carroll of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat on Cultural Diversity in the Church are delivering as key point people in the USCCB's partnership effort with the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Subcommittee for Hispanic Affairs celebrates the recent ordination of Bishop Cirilo Flores (March 19, 2009)
Cirilo Flores was born in Corona, California, on June 20, 1948. He attended Corona Unified School District, St. Edward School, Notre Dame High School, Riverside, and Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970. He received a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University Law School, Palo Alto, California, and received a Master of Divinity degree from St. John Seminary, Camarillo, in1991. He was ordained a priest on June 8, 1991.
Immigration reform can wait no longer
(Published by Today’s Catholic, August 14, 2009)
Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of San Antonio
The current Congress, which just recessed until September, certainly has its hands full trying to deal with the economic crisis and struggling with health-care reform.
Nevertheless, both issues, and many others, must not be an excuse to address the urgent need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. This is a matter that needs immediate resolution because of its magnitude and importance to the fabric of our society.
I have to say that this issue is deeply personal for me. I am both an American citizen and an immigrant, born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico. Some of my ancestors were in what’s now Texas, since the early 1800’s and I’ve always had family and friends on both sides of the border. So I have many conflicting emotions about the way this debate has played out in recent years.
“A generation ago we could hardly imagine a Hispanic saying he or she had ‘no religion,’ yet that number has doubled in just the past few years,” Archbishop José H. Gomez of San Antonio said in a June 8 address at a national symposium on the present and future of Catholic Hispanic ministry in the United States at Boston College. Archbishop Gomez, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, said one reason for this increase is that “if our people feel scapegoated in society and marginalized in Catholic life, it’s only natural that they would look around for someplace that might welcome them and treat them with the dignity they deserve.”
U.S. Catholic Mission Association Elected Its First Ever Hispanic Laywoman as President of the Board
On March 7, 2009, the USCMA Board members gathered for their spring meeting in Washington , DC . On top of their agenda is the election of its new set of Executive Committee members. After some serious thought and deliberation, the Board overwhelmingly elected Mrs. Teresita Gonzalez de la Maza as its new Board President. She is the first married laywoman and Hispanic to be elected Board President since the founding of USCMA. The USCMA past Presidents include the Most Rev. William G. Connare, Most Rev. Glennon Flavin, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Manning, Sr. Mary Ann Dillon, RSM, Sr. Mary Louise Lynch, MMS, Rev. John Fischer. Mr. Donald Mueller, Rev. William Morton, SSC, Sr. Christine Beckett, SCN, Rev. Joseph Nangle, OFM, and Sr. Mary McGlone CSJ.
Cultural Diversity Secretariat Hosts Consultation On Faith Formation Among Hispanics
To Advance Bishops’ Priority
December 5, 2008
BALTIMORE - Experts on faith formation and leadership development among the Hispanic community in the United States met December 2-3 with staff members of the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to share reflections, core values and recommendations in moving forward.
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Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For Immigration Reform Among Catholics
November 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - A recent Zogby poll of Catholics nationwide showed overwhelming support for reform of our nation’s immigration laws, with Catholics supporting a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented persons in the country.
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Georgetown University, Washington D.C. (October 5-6, 2008) — Fr. Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church gave an impassioned speech entitled, "Hispanic Ministry: New Realities and Choices" at The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. This was the first of its kind symposium on Hispanic/Latino(a) Catholics in the United States which set out to create an atmosphere for open dialogue among researchers, practitioners and pastoral leaders who brought about sound recommendations for future research and ministry among Hispanic/Latino(a) Catholics. The symposium included presentations by nationally recognized scholars and pastoral leaders whose area of concentration are on leadership and generational issues and those who are engaged in or responsible for ministry with Hispanic/Latino(a) Catholics.
Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For Immigration Reform Among Catholics
The Diocese of Saginaw Implements a New Diocesan Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry, (2008-2013)