The Catholic Diocese of Orange is among the fastest-growing dioceses in the United States, and its strength lies in its diversity, reports the Daily Pilot. “If you look at the Diocese of Orange, that’s the future of the Catholic Church in the United States over the next 50 years,” said Tarra McNally, CRCC’s assistant director of evaluation.
The article describes how the Diocese of Orange has grown with immigration from Mexico and Vietnam in particular, and how its leaders avoided parishes becoming segregated by language and culture.
Here is an excerpt featuring McNally:
As the diocese continues to grow, McNally said that Southern California is becoming a powerful voice among Catholics in the United States — and the world — particularly on social issues such as immigration, on which the diocese takes a more progressive stance.
“At the end of the day, it’s a numbers game,” she said. “If you’re the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, you’re the largest in the United States, and then the Diocese of Orange is the fastest growing, you’re definitely going to have the Vatican listening to you more than the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
“And when you have a pope who’s seen as more progressive, who’s from Latin America, there’s more openness to this perspective that’s coming out of Southern California than, say, New York, Philadelphia or Chicago,” McNally said.
“It really reflects what I think American Catholicism is becoming,” she said.
Click here to read the whole article.
Photo credit: Graphic Solutions
