Written by Agostino Bono, Catholic News Service Friday, 27 January 2012 11:24
These are the covers of "Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Present and Future" edited by Hosffman Ospino and "Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church" by Timothy Matovina. The books are reviewed by Agostino Bono. (CNS)"Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Present and Future" edited by Hosffman Ospino. Convivium Press (Miami, 2010). 445 pp., $22.99.
"Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church" by Timothy Matovina. Princeton University Press (Princeton. N.J., 2011). 312 pp., $29.95.
Ministering to Hispanic Catholics in the United States is a work in progress. Defining it is like trying to pinpoint the elusive colors of a chameleon leaping through autumn foliage. While much attention is focused on the challenges posed by the massive flow of Spanish-speaking immigrants crossing the southern border in recent decades, Hispanic Catholics are far from a monolith.
They include second- and third-generation bilingual families struggling to scamper into the middle class and adapt to U.S. traditions while retaining ties to their ancestral culture and language. Added to the mix are predominantly English-speaking Hispanics who trace their families back centuries to the Spanish colonial era, before their ancestral lands passed to Mexico and then the United States. And let's not forget Hispanics who have intermarried in the growingly multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual United States.
When it comes to developing ministerial approaches, 
one size does not fit all. Nor is there agreement among Hispanics as to what are the best roads to evangelization.
