A House Divided:

Abstract

Utilizing National Congregations Study data, this chapter paints a demographic portrait of American Catholic parishes in which Latinos are underrepresented and the affluent overrepresented, compared to the overall self-identified Catholic population. As the United States grows increasingly diverse racially, and as the gap between the rich and the poor grows, American Catholic parishes are also highly segregated economically and ethnically. Indeed, Latinos and the wealthy are significantly more segregated by parish than they are by neighborhood. With ethnic and economic segregation closely tied, the Catholic parish landscape is increasingly composed of rich white parishes and poor Latino parishes. The chapter grapples with implications of this empirical reality, along with potential solutions.