Latino Culture And The Catholic Church Of The United States

The Catholic Church of the United States is changing. It is shifting from its deep Anglo-Saxon history to a Hispanic and Latino culture. This is due to the ever rising number of Hispanic and Latino parishioners. While dogma and doctrine will not change with the shift of demographics, the devotions and worship of the Mass will take on a Hispanic flavor. Many churches are failing to welcome or understand how to meet the needs of this blooming Church population. Dr. Hosffman Ospino, a Boston College professor whose research focus is Catholic Hispanics and the Catholic Church’s response to them, has identified the need for parishes to incorporate Hispanic culture and Catholicism to meet the needs of this growing sect of parishioners. There are four aspects of liturgical aesthetics of a parish a church planning council should take into consideration in integrating a Hispanic flair into the faith : spatial dynamics, centering

“Entering into a church is a metaphor for entering into a shared world of symbolic narratives and meanings, somewhat like entering into a story and discovering the richness and internal coherence of its structure” (Kieckhefer, 135). The symbols are more than “decorative touches [for they] are never merely decorative, and the symbolism is never merely cognitive” (Kieckhefer, 141). Symbolic resonance is to draw the viewer into a state of awe connecting one to a deeper meaning of the décor and beauty of the church. Liturgical art not only teaches the faith and fosters devotion, but are “reminders of the religious culture from which they derive, as witnesses to a history that could in principle be known” (Kieckhefer, 143). Our Lady of Guadalupe should be integrated into the church for both Anglo-Saxon and Mexican descendants have affinity for her. The story of the of the apparition fosters the Hispanic identity, but also the power and love of the Blessed