Enlightened leaders and members of Hispanic churches in the United States recognize that their communities are in a moment of major transition. Long established barrios in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Antonio were once dominated by foreign-born, Spanish-speaking mexicanos, cubanos, and puertoriquenos. Now these are the neighborhoods of native-born children and grandchildren. This shift brings new challenges.
U.S.-born Latinos are usually English dominant. Many do not speak Spanish at all. Often, they do not maintain the same level of allegiance to their ancestral homelands, or the same cultural and religious commitments their parents or grandparents had.
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