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16 - Latinx Catholicism

from Part III - The Many Faces of Catholicism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2021

Margaret M. McGuinness
Affiliation:
La Salle University, Philadelphia
Thomas F. Rzeznik
Affiliation:
Seton Hall University, New Jersey
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Summary

For a community as diverse as those of Latin American and Caribbean descent living in the United States, finding an appropriate term that encapsulates all of its members is a tremendous challenge.  The terms Hispanic or Latino/a are often used interchangeably for this community, yet they do not fully reflect the complicated history of the population. Two additional terms, important to reflections on community identity, include mestizaje and mulatez. Mestizaje refers to the mixing of Spanish and indigenous heritage, while mulatez, the mixing of Spanish and African heritage, which is also part of the Latin American story. Both terms remain contested and have been explored in detail by community theologians such as Virgilio Elizondo, Michelle Gonzalez, Jorge Aquino, Nestor Medina, and Miguel De La Torre. Markers such as race and class play a critical role in understanding the history and intricacy of these terms, too much to tackle in this space. To complicate matters further, many people forgo the terms Hispanic or Latino all together and self-identify by particular nationality, calling themselves “Mexican,” “Puerto Rican,” or “Ecuadorian,” or by variations born in the US context such as “Guatemalan-American,” “Chicana,” or “Nuyorican.”

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Badillo, David A. Latinos and the New Immigrant Church. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Casarella, Peter and Gómez, Raúl, eds. El Cuerpo De Cristo: The Hispanic Presence in the U.S. Catholic Church. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1997.Google Scholar
Elizondo, Virgilio. Galilean Journey: The Mexican Promise. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1983.Google Scholar
Espín, Orlando, ed. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latino/a Catholicism. Oxford: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isasi-Díaz, Ada María. En la Lucha/In the Struggle: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Matovina, Timothy. Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America’s Largest Church. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Nanko-Fernández, Carmen. Theologizing in Espanglish: Context, Community, and Ministry. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2010.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Jeanette. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Faith and Empowerment Among Mexican-American Women. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.Google Scholar

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