North Carolina sees more Spanish Masses
By: Andrew Dunn, Senior Writer
Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: La Colina
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The priest had to drive in from Hillsborough, and he stumbled through a sermon not in his native tongue.
But the Spanish-speaking congregation was more than 400 strong, and the packed sanctuary at St. Thomas More Catholic Church on Fordham Boulevard was vibrant with restless children and families spilling out into the halls.
About 70 percent of Latin Americans are Catholic, and many people of Latino descent in the United States maintain their faith.
And as North Carolina has seen an influx of Latino immigrants - Latinos now make up about 6 percent of the state's population - Catholic congregations are beginning to offer Masses in Spanish.
Spanish Mass at St. Thomas More, which was one of the first in the area to begin Latino outreach, is led by Father Thomas S. Tully, pastor at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough.
The format is very similar to English-language Mass, and parishioners sing translated traditional hymns.
The church founded a Latino ministry program in 2000 under the direction of Buenaventura Yupanqui and has increasingly added Spanish-language programs and services.
Xiomara Boyce now serves as the head of Hispanic Ministries at St. Thomas More and oversees programs ranging from quinceañera celebrations to the Agua Viva prayer group.
Yupanqui left St. Thomas More to lead the Latino ministry program at the Immaculate Conception Church in Durham, one of the other churches with a large Latino population within its congregation.
In 2001 the first Spanish-only services began there. Now Immaculate Conception offers two on Sundays, which Yupanqui said are almost always packed. About 30 percent of that congregation speaks Spanish.
Durham's Latino community has grown from 0.02 percent of the population in 1998 to 11 percent in 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The priest had to drive in from Hillsborough, and he stumbled through a sermon not in his native tongue.
But the Spanish-speaking congregation was more than 400 strong, and the packed sanctuary at St. Thomas More Catholic Church on Fordham Boulevard was vibrant with restless children and families spilling out into the halls.
About 70 percent of Latin Americans are Catholic, and many people of Latino descent in the United States maintain their faith.
And as North Carolina has seen an influx of Latino immigrants - Latinos now make up about 6 percent of the state's population - Catholic congregations are beginning to offer Masses in Spanish.
Spanish Mass at St. Thomas More, which was one of the first in the area to begin Latino outreach, is led by Father Thomas S. Tully, pastor at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough.
The format is very similar to English-language Mass, and parishioners sing translated traditional hymns.
The church founded a Latino ministry program in 2000 under the direction of Buenaventura Yupanqui and has increasingly added Spanish-language programs and services.
Xiomara Boyce now serves as the head of Hispanic Ministries at St. Thomas More and oversees programs ranging from quinceañera celebrations to the Agua Viva prayer group.
Yupanqui left St. Thomas More to lead the Latino ministry program at the Immaculate Conception Church in Durham, one of the other churches with a large Latino population within its congregation.
In 2001 the first Spanish-only services began there. Now Immaculate Conception offers two on Sundays, which Yupanqui said are almost always packed. About 30 percent of that congregation speaks Spanish.
Durham's Latino community has grown from 0.02 percent of the population in 1998 to 11 percent in 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
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