Study finds U.S. Hispanics drawn to charismatic churches

Published: 2007-04-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The church familiar to and preferred by Hispanic Catholics in the United States is a livelier, more charismatic place than the one most American Catholics are used to, finds a new survey on Latinos and religion. A detailed survey by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released April 25 says about a third of U.S. Catholics are Latinos and that they are bringing a more evangelical style of faith into the broader church as their numbers grow. Despite an overall drop in the percentage of U.S. Hispanics who are Catholic -- due largely to those who joined evangelical and Pentecostal churches -- Latinos will continue to represent an ever-larger share of the U.S. Catholic population because of immigration and high birthrates, it said. About 68 percent of U.S. Hispanics say they are Catholics. The study is titled "Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion."

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .