I certainly agree that temporary influx is no guarantee of permanency in attendance or practice. I also agree with Tigg that Pentecostals are just as likely to attract Mexicans as Catholicism is.
This is purely anecdotal (non-statistical), and it is only one example, but I wonder how often it is repeated in other regions which include a large percentage of Latino immigrants. If the story were really a demographic trend, I should see a ton of Mexicans in any of the many parishes I attend in my area. (My work schedule is so variable that I find myself attending in many different local cities & at various Mass times.) In all of the local churches I have attended whose residency happens to feature a large population of Mexicans, there are no or extremely few Mexicans in the pews. That is in contrast to other immigrant groups in this highly, highly diverse area.
Personally, I see this partly to be an unfortunate result of language, which is only one of the reasons that I believe the Church should not multiply offerings of Spanish language Masses, but rather limit them to one essential Mass per week (for example), in parish locations (or parish clusters) which currently or have traditionally featured Mexican immigrants. Why? Because it discourages the learning of English. And why is that important? Because it further insulates those Mexican Catholics from the need to learn English and assimilate. This is not a cry to “not be Mexican.” ! So please don’t flame me. It’s great to keep one’s culture, whatever that culture is. ! But the insularity of staying within a pocket of Mexican culture (and learning “just enough” English to do barely enough to engage in business in the States) does not promote immigrant advancement in education (first of all, which is my biggest concern). Secondly, when the inevitable parish closings happen (which we have seen increasingly in the last 5 years), those Mexicans are then, not being literate enough to relate to the English Mass, do not have an immediate alternative.
This tends not to happen with other immigrant groups. While there still are Masses in Tagalog, etc., in my region, most Filipino immigrants become bilingual much faster than Mexicans do; ditto for the Vietnamese, the Koreans, the Chinese. Because of that, it tends to be not long after these latter arrive, that they can attend any English Mass in any location. And I mean working-class immigrants, not professional class. So in the most diverse parishes in my region, I see lots of immigrants (some with heavy accents, some light, some merely ‘broken English’), but extremely few of those attending English Masses are Mexicans.
Overall, the Vietnamese, Filipinos, Koreans, and Chinese (for example) spread out more over the landscape. They often have their mini-pockets (business neighborhoods, for example), but there is much more interface with English-speakers than there is for Mexicans who settle in heavily Spanish-speaking locations, trade with other Spanish-speakers, attend public schools with classes taught in Spanish (since I’m a teacher and have taught in many of these locations, I would know that), etc. If there are also Spanish-speaking Pentecostal alternatives near them (as there are in my region with lots of Spanish speakers), and their local Spanish Mass disappears for personnel or budgetary reasons, they predictably either join the Protestant alternative, or stop attending church altogether.
Again, this is not a statistical picture, so I do not know what Mass attendance & practice is elsewhere in Mexican-American populations. But it is true in my major metro region broadly. I would prefer to see parish/church cultural centers in strategic locations where these populations settle – centers which would continue to offer a minimum number of Spanish masses & instuction/sacramental preparation, but additionally have things like English classes (especially for adults) and other resources to encourage broad assimilation. I.m.o. this is an aspect of social justice. (But despite that, I’ll get flamed for such a “radical” idea.
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