Different races in the Catholic Church

[LDNCatholic]

My church is heavily mixed, but we live in a very diverse (i.e. the majority of people in the area, myself included, are immigrants or of immigrant descent). Although we don’t have too many ‘‘Hispanic’’ people here, a couple of Columbians if they count .

I’d say the church is about 15-20% ‘‘Native British’’/Anglo-Saxon, the rest of us are a mix of Irish, Polish, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Arabs, Syrians, Persians, Lebanese, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Somalians, Morrocans, Spanish, Kenyans, Jamaicans, Grenadans, Bajans, Guyanese, Ghanaians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, to name a few…

The church is definitely ‘‘catholic’’ (universal)

God Bless

Peter

 

[water]

If you go to one of the churches in San Jose, you might see 99% Asian.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree it’s the neighborhood one lives in.

Some years back, a new banker came to town from West Texas. I’m not sure why he moved, but I think it had to do with a new charter in town, in which he also invested personally.

Anyway, one day after he had been here a few years, he and I were having coffee, and he told me how surprised he was some year back when someone told him I am Catholic. At first, he said, he didn’t believe it, but then, he said, he learned there are quite a few Catholics in this area. He explained that, having lived nearly all his life in West Texas, he “thought Catholicism was some kind of Mexican religion” until he moved here. He never knew a white Catholic before that.

A previous poster said Hispanics were not distinct from whites. I think that depends on who the Hispanics are. There are a fair number of Hispanics here, fairly recent arrivals. They’re pretty much all Mexicans or Central Americans. I was extremely uncomfortable at first when they started talking about this person being Hispanic and that one being “white”. That’s pervasive among them, and I’m used to it now. So whatever those particular Hispanics consider themselves (and I think it’s different, depending on whether they’re Mexican or Central American) they sure don’t consider themselves “white”. Some Mexicans LOOK “white”, but that’s not what they call themselves.

Cubans, many of whom are very European looking, may be different in that respect, but there are no Cubans here, so I don’t know. I had occasion to meet some Uruguayans and they made it a point to tell me they’re not like Mexicans, being “white” themselves, pure Spanish. In Latin America, I take it, race is a very big deal.

 

[Selene]

Well that makes sense.
It is the same with the jw’s, it depends on the area.

Do Catholics have any gatherings were the different races fellowship?

For example jw’s have groups of churches that meet together for what is called assemblies.

Of course mass is far better then jw’s meetings.

But I was woundering if groups of catholic churchs meet together for fellowship?

Hello! I am from Guam, which is a very small island in the Pacific ocean located southeast of Japan. I am an Asian-Pacific Islander. My mother was a native of Guam and my father is from the Philippine Islands. Both Guam and the Philippines are majority Catholics.

In Guam, I am walking in the Neocatecumetical Way and as community members in the Way, we do meet often for fellowship. There are many different ethnic groups in my village community. One person is from the island of Palau and another is from the country of Hungary. Two semenarians are also in our village Community and one is from Ireland and the other is from Croatia. My priest is from Ecuador and speaks 7 different languages. Japanese is one of the languages he can speak fluently. He is also learning to speak my native language.

For Christmas, all the communities walking in the Way, and the public were invited to the Seminary. Our semenarians come from different countries: Ireland, Croatia, Ivory Coast, Venzuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Philippines, Malta, Spain, and Italy. The song “Silent Night” was sung in their languagues, and then in Chamorro (which is the language of the natives people here). The people of Guam are also diverse. We live on a small island, but our ethnic group are mostly Pacific Islanders (from many different islands in the Pacific) and Asians and there are also people from the United States as well since Guam is also a territory of the US.

 

[RHisComingHome]

Oh yeah, it’s all about demographics! Our parish has 1300+ families (around 3,000 members) and my husband is one of a handful of black people. Literally a handful. I’ve seen a total of four black people and about 12 Indians since we’ve been attending there. We are one of three interracial couples in attendance. The DRE was very pleased when we joined because she is hoping our population gets a little more “diverse.” Our parish is in one of the more affluent areas of the city and is surrounded by old neighborhoods that are very costly.

 

[dolphinlove]

The church i go to has different nationalities yet again, we have new zealanders, islanders, italians, spanish… the list goes on!

 

[HOPEFUL_IN_UK]

Simple, the deomographics of the area the church is located.

Not so simple. Old Saint Mary’s in Cincinnati is in the heart of a black neighborhood and the attendees are 99% white.

 

[Bruised_Reed]

A parish I visited in D.C. was predominantly white (white neighborhood) for regular Sunday and weekday Masses. The exception was First Fridays. It was one of the few churches that had all-night adoration (beginning at 8:00 or 9:00pm and ending at 8:00am or so with Mass) and therefore attracted many outside of it’s parish boundaries (including me). It was there that one could get a real good look at the diversity among Catholics.

I loved those nights so. I think it was the most spiritually fruitful time in my life.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Not so simple. Old Saint Mary’s in Cincinnati is in the heart of a black neighborhood and the attendees are 99% white.

That is probably due to the fact that the people are attending the same parish their ancestors attended. We have a number of churches around here that are in black neighborhoods and are allmost 100% white because the churches were built by immigrant families that settled in the areas and people keep going to them because they were raised in those parishes. They drive fairly long distances to keep those ethnic ties. So while the demographics of the neighborhoods changed, the ethnicity of the parishes did not, and the black people around here are mostly AME, Baptist, or Pentecostal.

 

[lukewarm]

Not so simple. Old Saint Mary’s in Cincinnati is in the heart of a black neighborhood and the attendees are 99% white.

In the US a vast majority of blacks are Baptist or some other Protestant denomination. This stems largely from the fact that the South and America in general was largely Protestant in its history. Catholics made up a very tiny minority until relatively recently. And while it’s unfortunate slavery is a part of our history and helped shape a lot. It definitely contributed to the fact that most blacks are some form of Southern Baptist.

But we are seeing change in that regard as the Catholic Churches in these areas reach out by giving their children free shcooling, and the immigration of native Africans and Hatians or some other island that is largely Catholic.

 

[Maxply]

I gotta say, I think it’s cool to see a black in a Catholic Church: to me it suggests that they’ve thought through their religious concerns and have come to the Catholic conclusion!

It’s also nice to see Indian folks, etc. I’m a bit concerned about the Spanish-speakers self-segregating: in the long term, that’s not a good thing for anyone.

If ANY church is meant to be nonracial, it’s the Catholic Church, in my opinion. Surprising what the earlier West Texas poster said about the racial mix of Catholics in Texas.

 

[DL82]

My parish is much more mixed, it is about 60% black and 40% white at the sung mass, and the opposite at the family mass. There’s also a Spanish mass, which is mostly Columbian and Spanish migrant workers, and a French mass, which is mostly African/Caribbean French-speaking people. I think there’s also a Maronite Divine Liturgy once a month, which I imagine is mostly Indian people. This is a Cathedral parish in Central London, so it’s probably quite different to your average parish in America, but I just wanted to point out that racial divisions are not a given.

 

[NewUlm1976_2000]

As others have said, it’s most likely the area you’re in. My parish in Houston reflects the demographics of the location. We’re about half “Anglo” and half Hispanic, with maybe 5-10% black and Asian. We have heavily Korean and other Asian parishes in Houston, but not so much in my area of the city.

The only place I’ve ever seen a 95% black Catholic parish is around New Orleans or in photos from Africa. It’s all what you’re used to in your neck of the woods.

The megachurches around here are very culturally mixed. Why? Because they only have 1-5 locations throughout the entire metro area and people sometimes drive 50 miles to attend them.

Also, IMO, the megachurches have less of a cultural basis within families since they’ve only been around for 30 years.

Also, just having a “White” predominance in demographics still does not say enough. Many parishes still go back to the immigrant-founding days around here. That means you can walk in and still pick up on Polish, German, Italian, etc… heritage which is still a hallmark of many parishes. Granted much of this has been diluted in many areas due to shifting populations over times and the Catholic Church moving beyond closed enclave status, but it is still there.

Even Spanish masses around here have some overlap in attendance, you can still follow most of the mass if you attend even if you are not fluent in the language.

 

[jc-servant]

But I was woundering if groups of catholic churchs meet together for fellowship?

An entire Catholic parish does not generally go “visit” another parish such as I experienced when I was a Baptist. If you go to a national or regional Catholic conference, then you are far more likely to see the vast diversity of our church even within the US.

There are things like the Nat’l Catholic Youth Conference that bring people from all over the US for lessons, Catholic music and great fellowship. There is a conference for “young” adults this weekend in Grapevine, TX. Francisan U. in Ohio hosts regional youth conferences every summer. World Youth Day is great even for those who might be older and go as chaperones for seeing the face of the worldwide church. I’m hoping to go to Australia for WYD 2008.

There are tours led by priests that are open to Catholics from anywhere. One of my friends went to Israel for Christmas 2006 on one of those tours. I know of some Catholic cruises and destination vacations for singles that have been co-sponsored by a couple of Catholic online singles groups.

Depending on the diocese, going to an event sponsored by the diocese at the cathedral will bring out a pretty diverse group. Check your diocese’s website. In Dallas there are free lectures on Catholic topics followed by discussion and fellowship that are hosted at different parishes.

I go to noon mass at our cathedral on some holy days because I work near it. I know that for many people from little isolated parishes that they might only see us “other” Catholics while downtown for work. (I’m of mixed heritage, black African, Irish and Cherokee.) Serrans and Young Serrans draw from all over the diocese rather than just one parish. Volunteering for the local Catholic Charities will provide opportunities to meet people from all over the diocese.

I’m in the Dallas area and my parish is fairly near the airport. We look like a rainbow at all English language masses and just about every Spanish-speaking country is represented at our Spanish language masses.

I think that it depends on the personality of each parish whether or not people do a lot of “fellowship” activities. IMO, merely going to mass once per week and never volunteering or attending anything else will cause a distorted and limited vision of any parish or diocese. I found out that my diocese has a great gospel choir with members from all over only after I went to a contemporary Catholic concert at my own parish way on the other side of the metro from where this choir practices.

 

[GaelicGuy]

In any Catholic Church, in every nation under Heaven, only one race can be found therein: the human race. When one discovers the Truth of Catholicism & places their trust in Jesus Christ, it matters not a jot what race we come from or what flag we live under, as we are all brothers & sisters in Christ.
Our own parish has had a more or less completely Irish congregation as long as anyone can remember. Obviously this was due to the fact that the parish is in the heart of Ireland. But with the influx of immigrants in recent years, our congregation is like a mini United Nations. The pews are filled with fellow Catholics from Poland, England, Portugal, Scotland, Lithuania, Italy, Czech Republic, The Philippines, Nigeria, Latvia, Slovakia, Brazil, Romania, Palestine, Iraq, Canada, United States, Australia, Kenya, South Africa & even from as far away as India & China.
To an outsider, our parish may still appear to be mainly “white”, whatever white is supposed to mean. But scratch the surface of any parish around the globe & you will see that our Church is truly Catholic.

 

[Santi2]

The pews are filled with fellow Catholics from Poland, England, Portugal, Scotland, Lithuania, Italy, Czech Republic, The Philippines, Nigeria, Latvia, Slovakia, Brazil, Romania, Palestine, Iraq, Canada, United States, Australia, Kenya, South Africa & even from as far away as India & China.
.

Almost like my Parish in London. I say almost because, we also have parishioners from Japan, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Germany, Vietnam, Iran, Nepal, Austria and Israel. Our Parish community continues to grow. Our Masses for Easter and Christmas are usually longer than the usual because Father requests that The Hail Mary or The Lord’s Prayer be shared, before Mass ends, representative of all the languages spoken by each nationality. Then he proceeds to give the blessing. I find it deeply moving. An elderly Irish lady once shared a prayer in Gaelic.

 

[Maxply]

Santi and GaelicGuy: that’s very cool and I’d be excited to check that out. I hope your churches have some social stuff outside of mass so people can more generally come to know each other.

 

[Santi2]

Hi, Maxply

Our Parish has its fair share of summer fetes & bbq’s and spring dinners for the elderly. Attendance depends on the weather. Our Parish is, afterall, in the UK. As in all communities, you have some who mix well and others who are quite shy. But, we catch up with each other after Mass for chit-chat and welcome new faces. If they don’t understand English, we initially go by with a smile and gesticulations. . There is also a primary school attached to the Church. Some of its pupils attend the Catholic secondary school in the area after primary. So, families would know each other and have joint activities outside of the Parish because of the children and the friendships formed in school.

In addition to fetes etc, our Parish hall is used for many events in the community e.g. coffee shop & bingo etc, and on Tuesdays evenings, we have Salsa!

Oh! And, how could I forget Hungary? One of our readers is Hungarian. A baritone as well. And, Burma! Our organist is from Burma.

You know what is truly moving at Mass? No one needs for the prayers and responses to be in any particular language for the Consecration of the Eucharist and when receiving Holy Communion. Everyone knows.