American Catholic Contours and Detours in a 50-Percent Hispanic Church

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The familiar expression “American Catholicism” often evokes mainly the presence and heritage of Euro-American Catholics and how this group defines religion, culture and politics in our nation. Though narrow and de facto blind to the contributions of many other groups that have been central to defining the American Catholic experience, this perception finds its ultimate challenge in the fact that nearly 50 percent of Catholics in the U.S. today are Hispanic/Latino. In this lecture Ospino explores key implications for church and society of being American Catholic in a largely Hispanic/Latino church. The lecture proposes a vision for ecclesial and intellectual engagement, a roadmap for American Catholicism in the rest of the century.    Cosponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies, the Religion in the Americas Workshop, and the Theology and Ethics Workshop at the University of Chicago. This event is made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.