Source: MSNBC News
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7168826/site/newsweek/
On March 21, 2005 MSNBC News reported, "forty million strong and deeply religious, Hispanics are traditionally Catholic. But, research shows, the longer they are in the United States, the more open they are to other faiths. While 72 percent of first-generation Hispanics are Catholic, according to one study, that figure drops to 52 percent by the third generation—a trend that has long troubled the Catholic hierarchy. Latinos remain the Catholic church's fastest-growing ethnic bloc, but they are also one of the fastest-growing segments among Mormons, Methodists and most other denominations. The result: all faiths are courting Hispanics with a marketing savvy more often associated with corporate America. These churches 'have plans to grow, and they're aggressive,' says Edwin Hernandez of the University of Notre Dame. 'The competition is rampant.'"