Posted on 01/19/2007 10:56:26 AM PST by NYer
With my daughter is on the basketball team this year, I've been visiting lots of Catholic parishes in central NJ. Most players have Irish or Italian names out here (they occasionally announce them ahead of the game).
My tagline is the battle cry of the Cristeros, Mexican revolutionaries that resisted the Mexican government's attempt to squash the Catholic Church. Despite their resistance and martyrdom, Mexico did became very secular during the last century.
So now we have these nominally Catholic Mexicans arriving in urban areas that have beautiful old churches that were built by poor immigrants ahead of them. Why stick with the old Mexican ways? I know that RENEW is specifically targeted at these immigrants. Perhaps that will be the only way to kindle the fire of faith in these immigrants who, with their large family sizes, should encourage their children to consider a vocation.
They say that one of the things that prevented the Puerto Ricans from assimilating for a long time was the $99 ticket to PR. They'd go back and forth so much that they never really committed to learning English and making a life on the mainland.
Other non-English speaking groups didn't have that option, and perhaps it was for the best.
Didn’t work back in the old days. When my ancestors came to this country they DEMANDED Polish and Italian churches, despite the large Anglo-Irish parishes nearby, despite the “Latin” mass.
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