Latino Catholics Increasingly Drawn To Pentecostalism

Researchers have found that Latinos have been drawn in by aggressive proselytizing and the practical help small Pentecostal churches offer. Protestant evangelicals were twice as likely as Catholics to say that their church has helped them or a family member get a job, or provided money, housing, food or clothing, according to a recent survey of hundreds of churchgoers in Chicago.

"It's not that the Catholic Church does not serve the needs," Hernandez said. But "Catholic parishes in large cities are connected to these large bureaucratic social service organizations. . . . It suggests that one of the ways people are brought in is, if you help somebody get a job, that's a connection people make. It's a personal relationship they establish."

As a part of Pentecostal services, church members are urged repeatedly to greet one another, lay hands on one other, call out and communicate directly with God as they feel moved to do so. At a memorial service last week, believers wept and embraced one another in the aisles.

For Catholics used to less demonstrative services, the experience can be overwhelming.

"In the Catholic Church, they teach you the word of God, but it's a different type of language that's not understandable to the people," said Marcos Roman of Santa Ana, Calif. Roman converted from Catholicism to Pentecostalism 16 years ago. He attended a Spanish-language rally at the Los Angeles Convention Center with his wife, two daughters, sister-in-law and her husband. "This is the word of God."

Latinos who move to Pentecostal churches usually take their children. According to research by Notre Dame's Latino religion center, 15 percent of first-generation Latino immigrants to the United States are Protestant. By the third generation, that number climbs to 29 percent.

The trend has not gone unnoticed by the Catholic Church. "I think that the evangelicals and Pentecostals, among other groups, were doing something that was very important: They were reaching out," said Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, associate director of the Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "They were being missionary. The Catholic Church was not doing that as intentionally as it needed to."

During the past 20 years, the Catholic Church has increased the number of Masses said in Spanish, and encouraged the spread of apostolic movements, which feature small-group worship and music to create community within larger parishes, Aguilera-Titus said.

But Notre Dame's Hernandez said the defections continue. The Catholic Church has had some success in reaching out to its Latino adherents, he said. "But whether that has reversed the tide? No. Absolutely not."