General Discussion

IN part, this is just a function of parishes being associated with geographical neighborhoods which are themselves segregated. So, you could be Catholic in some parts of say, Queens NY and be in church almost exclusively with white European-heritage Catholics from Italian, Croatian, and Irish backgrounds, whereas a parish in another neighborhood would be almost entirely made up of Central American-heritage parishioners and people of Dominican-Puerto Rican origin. This is true throughout the country. Obviously, there are some parishes that are more "mixed" than others demographically, and this is more the case as the church shrinks and closes/combines parishes. But by and large, the Catholic Church in the US is affected and marked by the segregation and demographic isolation that prevails commonly in US society.