Denver, Colo., Aug 15, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A few months ago, Bishop Jose Gomez, Auxiliary of Denver, and one of the leading voices of Hispanic Catholicism in the United States, explained why Hispanic immigrants do not contribute financially to their parishes as much as American Catholics do, even after they have reached a moderate financial situation.
Providing some historical roots, Bishop Gomez explained to a large audience of English-speaking Catholics in Northern Colorado the two very different ways in which the Catholic Church was established in Latin America and in North America.
“While the Spanish Crown provided all the means needed for the propagation of the Church – the building of parishes and the assistance to the needy in the colonies – in the U.S., Catholics had to fight their way into the American culture, a fight that required the commitment of each and every single Catholic,” the bishop explained.
As a consequence, while American Catholics developed the commitment to support their local Church as something critical for the survival of their Church, sustaining the Catholic Church was not their direct concern for Hispanics.