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There was a time when being a Latino in the U.S. also meant being Catholic. Not anymore. Studies by Protestant and Catholic demographers reveal that 23 percent of the 27 million U.S. Latinos, or just over six million, today identify themselves as Protestant. The percentage of Latinos identifying themselves as Catholic hovers around 70 percent, or 19 million. Clearly the majority of Latinos remain Catholic, but the percentage of Protestants is astounding given that Latino Protestants numbered only one hundred thousand as recently as 1970. When nearly one in four Latinos is a Protestant, the term "Catholic" is no longer a synonym for "Latino."

This shift in confessional identity-confessional mobility-among Latinos has been spotlighted in recent issues of Time Magazine and Christianity Today, and remains a perennial concern for Catholic and Protestant church leaders. Understanding this shift is a matter of great importance, given that Latinos will be our nation's largest minority group early next century. While the U.S. Latino community is no monolith-differences between Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Ecuadorians can be pronounced-it is possible to speak of a collective "Latino" presence, especially in relationship to shifts in religious life.

Even more striking than confessional mobility among Latinos is the flight from regular participation in church. Next Sunday, only three out of ten Latinos will attend church, according to pollster George Barna. We can probe and write and debate all we want about shifting Latino confessional allegiance, but if Latinos are not living out faith in Christ through a committed body of believers, it makes little difference that we "identify" ourselves with one confession or another.

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