The moment for the Hispanic Catholic Church in the United States is now

Making Room for a Renewed Vision Alongside a large network of parishes, U.S. Catholics have long benefited from a large infrastructure of ministerial organizations, Catholic educational institutions and advocacy groups that have succeeded in advancing the church's evangelizing mission at various levels. Many have worked tirelessly to ensure that just as they supported the spiritual life of and empowered white, Euro-American Catholics to be faithful Christian disciples and engaged citizens, they would do likewise with the fast-growing Hispanic population-and Catholics from other cultural groups. In recent decades, our church has seen the rise of a core group of Catholic ministerial organizations that understand the urgency of addressing directly the needs of Hispanic Catholics. In 1972, the Mexican American Cultural Center was established in San Antonio, Tex., as the first Catholic center in the United States dedicated to developing resources to serve Hispanic Catholics, prepare pastoral leaders to serve Spanish-speaking Catholics, and serve as a center of pastoral theological reflection.