National Profile
Gender, Marital and Ecclesial Status
Nearly 60% of the Hispanic Ministry directors are men, and over two-thirds (69%) are single. The vast majority of those who are single are also celibate. This is because 63% of the directors are priests or sisters. Only 37% are lay persons.
Male directors are slightly more likely to be married (27% to 22%). However, the two genders are just as likely to have a religious vocation.
Education
Hispanic Ministry directors tend to be highly educated. Ninety-three percent (93%) have at least a college degree. Seventy-five percent (75%) have at least a masters degree. Seven percent (7%) have earned a doctorate. In addition, 98% of the directors are fully bilingual.
These patterns hold true regardless of gender, marital status, nativity/ethnicity, or ecclesial status.
Nativity
Fifty-two percent (52%) of the directors are foreign-born Hispanics and another 20% are US-born Hispanics. The remainder of the directors (28%) are US-born, Euro-Americans (i.e. Anglos). Eighty-five percent (85%) of the Euro-Americans are priests or sisters.
Most of the US-born Hispanic directors are Mexican-Americans. Thus, 30% of the directors could be considered of “Mexican-origin,” either first-generation or beyond.
The regional and national origins of the foreign-born directors are as follows:
South America 39% (primarily Colombia and Venezuela) Mexico 25% Caribbean 22% (primarily Cuba and Puerto Rico) Central America 6% (primarily Costa Rica) Spain/Europe 8% Total 100%
Salaries (See Table 1)Sixty-seven percent (67%) of the Hispanic Ministry directors earn a salary of less than $30,000 per annum. There is no consistent pattern of variation due to geography (i.e. episcopal region), gender, years in position, nativity, or ethnicity. Thus, Hispanic and non-Hispanic directors and male and female directors have roughly the same salary distributions.
However, salaries do vary widely depending on the director’s ecclesial status. Ninety-two percent (92%) of the priests and sisters earn below $30,000 annually, compared to just 20% of the lay directors. Similarly, 32% of the lay directors earn $40,000 or more annually, compared to just 3% of the priests or sisters.
Allowances (See Table 1)
These salary shortfalls for priests and sisters are partially offset by their generous housing, car and retreat allowances. Overall, only 41% of the Hispanic Ministry directors have housing allowances and only 36% have car allowances. However, the religious directors account for 97% of the housing allowances and 88% of the car allowances.
Other allowances, including vacation, continuing education and professional membership, are more evenly balanced between the lay and religious directors.
Gender is not a major factor in the distribution of most allowances. Two exceptions are professional membership allowances and car allowances. Twenty-six percent (26%) of men enjoy car allowances, compared to 50% of women. In addition, 72% of women enjoy membership allowances, compared to just 52% of men. Men, on the other hand, appear to have a slight advantage in the area of continuing education.
Benefits (See Table 1)
Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the directors receive medical insurance benefits and the vast majority receive dental (83%) and retirement (79%) benefits. However, only 58% have paid sick leave benefits and just 47% have life insurance.
In the case of life insurance, paid sick leave, and retirement, there are sharp discrepancies based on ecclesial status. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the lay directors have paid sick leave benefits, compared to 50% of the religious directors. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of the lay directors also receive life insurance, compared to 34% of their religious counterparts.
Gender is not a major factor in the distribution of salary benefits.
AUTHOR: Stewart J. Lawrence, Puentes, Inc.,
September 20, 2000, Washington, DC
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