Pope Benedict XVI will visit a far larger and more diverse diocese when he touches down in Washington this week than the one that Pope John Paul II found during his 1979 visit.
Since the last papal tour, the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington has leapt 45 percent from 400,000 to more than 580,000 people. Growth in the diocese, which covers D.C. and suburban Maryland, is being driven by immigration. While Masses here were performed in seven languages in 1979, they are now celebrated in more than 20 languages ranging from Spanish to Nigerian Igbo.
Changes in Washington congregations are being echoed across the country, according to experts. While the number of Catholics in the United States population has remained stable overall, it is largely due to an influx of Catholic immigrants who are replacing native-born Catholics leaving the church.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said some recent studies found roughly one in three U.S.-born Catholics had left the church and that many young adult Catholics feel disconnected.
“In the old days, we could scare people into staying in the church with a fear of hell, but that doesn’t work anymore,” Reese said, acknowledging that the church’s opposition to gay lifestyles, divorce, birth control and female priests have turned some away. “The challenge that the church faces is how to preach the Gospel in a way that is attractive and understandable to people in the 21st century.”
Recent sex scandals have likely worsened the situation. During a Sunday press conference in Washington, groups of current and former Catholics protesting the church’s handling of bishops accused of sex abuse said church attendance suffered a “precipitous drop” at the height of the scandals in the 1990s.
Immigration, however, has been a boon for the church, although changing demographics have altered traditionally staid U.S. Catholic worship to make it more charismatic, such as including more festive music.
In the Washington area, roughly one-third of Catholics are of Hispanic origin and about 25 percent of the 200 active priests in the Washington Archdiocese are serving the Hispanic community.
Local Catholic Kathryn Davin said she and her husband have attended St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Falls Church for more than 40 years. They have watched as their church became a place where Spanish-speaking parishioners may outnumber English-speakers, and feast days of Latin American religious figures are commonly celebrated.
“There are people who say ‘Isn’t this our church?’ ” Davin said. “Well of course it is our church, but it’s also everybody else’s too. Many longtime parishioners like me have roots in Ireland or elsewhere and we should remember that our ancestors were immigrants too.”
