Sister Regina Ann Tonn teaches a religion class at the St. John Paul II Catholic School in Phoenix, Ariz., on Feb. 26, 2020. In the western suburbs of Phoenix, enrollment is surging at this new Catholic high school built to serve a fast-growing, heavily Hispanic community. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-MIlls)
March 14, 2020
Stories this photo appears in:
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.