I thought that you meant the congregation, not the leadership, but won’t the leadership become more Hispanic too, like the congregation?
Not just Hispanic. The priest in my church was imported from Uganda.
Interesting little tidbit.
Most illegal immigrant Hispanics are not practicing Catholics.
Most are "cultural" Catholics (i.e., they would identify themselves as Catholic but rarely, if ever, set foot in a church).
We have a large Hispanic population in my town (growing to be almost 1/4 of the population in recent years). Most of the newcomers are illegal immigrants. Out of the three Catholic churches in town, ours is the only one with a Spanish-language Mass. It is so sparsely attended that it is in the small chapel in the neighboring Catholic high school rather than using the church.
There are actually more Hispanics attending pentecostal congregations of various varieties than the Catholic churches...at least in the area where I live. The pentecostals are making huge inroads into that area.
But, still, most of them don't ever set foot in a Catholic church for one reason or another.
Most legal immigrant Hispanics are as conservative, if not more so, than whites. (They are far more likely to attend Mass than illegal immigrants...far, far more likely)
Yes, believe it or not. Most are pro-marriage, anti-homosexual, pro-work, anti-welfare. At least the ones I know.
I thought that you meant the congregation, not the leadership, but won’t the leadership become more Hispanic too, like the congregation?
Actually, we have a hard time finding Hispanic clergy -- and we see that as a big problem. Although the demographic of priests ordained locally are mostly white with the appropriate portions of black, Hispanic, or Asian folks mixed in, most of our "imported" clergy come from Africa. And I'm here to tell you that they are extremely conservative. I have, in fact, never heard a liberal African (i.e., from Africa) priest preach in an American church.
No, the real danger comes from aging clergy and religious who were formed in the late 50s through the 70s. And it's only a matter of time before they die off.