New evidence from the Pew Research Center reveals that Mexican Catholics who emigrate to the United States are considerably less religious than their counterparts who remain in Mexico.
A hefty majority of US Hispanics are of Mexican descent (64%), according toUS Census Bureau statistics, and about a third of Mexican Americans were born in Mexico and immigrated into the US. Mexican Americans, however, exhibit differences both in religious affiliation and in doctrinal belief as compared with Catholics living in Mexico.
Though the Pew study does not explore the reasons Mexican Catholics leave the Church when emigrating to the US, it does offer statistics that show a substantial decline of Catholic affiliation. While 81% of Mexicans identify themselves as Catholics, the number drops to 61% of Mexican Americans—a difference of 20%, or some four million persons, in real terms.
Some have theorized that the drop-off may be due in part to inadequate attention to Hispanic Catholics in US parishes. A recent Boston College studyfound that only a quarter of US Catholic parishes have programs aimed at Hispanics, despite the fact that they make up about 40 percent of the approximately 78 million Catholics in the country. About six percent of all Masses in the United States are now celebrated in Spanish.
Of those Mexican American Catholics who leave the Church, some become Protestants and others lose any religious affiliation whatsoever. Percentage wise, there are twice as many Mexican American Protestants as Mexican Protestants and 17% of Mexican Americans claim no religious affiliation, compared with only 7% of Mexicans in this category.
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