Children walk down Grotto Hill next to the Mission San Xavier del Bac in Tucson, Ariz., Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. San Xavier Mission was founded as a Catholic mission by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692 when Southern Arizona was part of New Spain. The hill is named informally for a small religious shrine tucked into a rocky grotto on its flanks. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-MIlls)
March 14, 2020
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March 14, 2020 6:02 a.m.
US Hispanic Catholics are future, but priest numbers dismal
PHOENIX (AP) — Maria Chavira, a senior administrator in the Diocese of Phoenix, says Spanish-speaking Catholic parishes in her area are “bursting at the seams” and celebrates the emergence of Hispanics as the largest ethnic component of the church nationwide.