16 - Latinx Catholicism

Summary

For a community as diverse as those of Latin American and Caribbean descent living in the United States, finding an appropriate term that encapsulates all of its members is a tremendous challenge.  The terms Hispanic or Latino/a are often used interchangeably for this community, yet they do not fully reflect the complicated history of the population. Two additional terms, important to reflections on community identity, include mestizaje and mulatez. Mestizaje refers to the mixing of Spanish and indigenous heritage, while mulatez, the mixing of Spanish and African heritage, which is also part of the Latin American story. Both terms remain contested and have been explored in detail by community theologians such as Virgilio Elizondo, Michelle Gonzalez, Jorge Aquino, Nestor Medina, and Miguel De La Torre. Markers such as race and class play a critical role in understanding the history and intricacy of these terms, too much to tackle in this space. To complicate matters further, many people forgo the terms Hispanic or Latino all together and self-identify by particular nationality, calling themselves “Mexican,” “Puerto Rican,” or “Ecuadorian,” or by variations born in the US context such as “Guatemalan-American,” “Chicana,” or “Nuyorican.”