I come from a Hispanic family on my dad’s side, and I can attest that this is a real problem. The older generation is still Catholic, but most of the younger generation went away from it and are agnostic to atheist. I can’t speculate as to why, but I can say that a strong example from my parents and always going to Mass together has kept me in the Church. I pray for them constantly; it is sad to see how my family has lost their faith and probably related to this has become more fractured.
On a philosophy website I got into a disagreement with another member about the individual vs society and environment.
Basically, he took the position the individual trumps society and environment and is self made.
My position came more from an intro sociology course (and some of my own observations). I argued that relative to an individuals community or society the individual means nothing. Basically, society and environment shape the individual.
As an example an case in point I pointed out that in general ethnic Black-Americans speak English and grow up playing basketball and not soccer. Whereas in Brazil those black and brown speak Portuguese and grow up playing soccer.
So, I asked if he could explain why that is so if his proposition is that human individuals are a walled island from their environment?
I also stated to him that if his proposition were correct then
we would expect to see (to use phrase from science when attempting to solve a life problem and bring resolution to a case under study) feral children, absent of all human acquaintances, self develop into physicists, chemists, or engineers.
But we don’t.
To me it is no mystery why young Catholic Latinos to the U.S. leave. While I will acknowledge there are probably multiple layers to the issue and therefore more than one reason, a large reason ultimately has to do with most human beings being followers, and how most humans reason. That along with wanting to fit in.
Forget the terms Catholic and Protestant. Let’s imagine two different terms. Will call them
Bumpy and
Hairy.
The Bumpy people come from a land called Waldy and the Hairy people live in a land called Barry. Waldy is a much more economically impoverished nation than Barry. And in Fact Barry is said to be the richest nation on earth. The Bumpy people that move the Barry begin to think and reason one day, “Hmm… the Hairy people must know something right if they are so much richer than we are, God must have blessed and enlightened them.”
The Bumpy people also want to fit in with the culture of the Hairy.
There is another issue though, in my opinion, in terms of the Latino gang banger etc. American Catholicism both conservative and liberal have no answer, no solution, in fact has no idea what these young men face. Both live in fiction land.
Mexican Catholicism seems to comprehend the problem in more real, blood, tears, and flesh, bone, and mind ways. Perhaps, because the Mexican Church has no choice but to be sitting immersed in the violence.
American Catholicism often sits back from a distance pondering the problem from a distance. The issue of young Latino boys and men becoming gang bangers is not simply one of “just young men gone astray.”
I think I understand the Latino male in the inner-city well. Perhaps. Life is complicated and I can’t know or connect to every individuals struggles and curses. However, in a general sense, for many if not most, I think I kind of “get it.”
I would give the young Latino male a pair of boxing gloves. It couldn’t hurt if they (the young Latino males) began dressing a little more like the Evangelical Protestant ministers, of community social standing, in suit, tie, and cufflinks.
At base… the young Latino male wants security, enrichment, a woman and prosperity. Currently, American Catholicism has no resolution to this problem for them.
But even if the American Church could bring resolution to those questions and problems some would leave anyways. The Evangelicals get their narrative about who they are out better than Catholicism. And Catholicism is often bogged down being attacked from all fronts, from every side, and the narrative most people hear (including the Bumpy people from the land of Waldy) of who Catholicism is… is that narrative constructed and explained through the enemies of Catholicism. Catholicism for a while now has responded primarily by playing the role of the bowing Chinese man, always with hands folded, head down, apologizing.
To the credit of the Evangelicals though, you must admit they do an impressive job of transforming some young men. Kind of like the Nation of Islam.
