National Profile
Longevity of Directors
A quarter of the directors have held their position for one year or less, and just over half (51%) have served for 3 years or less. Seventy percent (70%) of the directors have served for 5 years or less.Sixty-three percent (63%) of the women have served for 3 years or less, compared to just 43% of the men. However, this discrepancy disappears as the directors’ longevity increases. Twenty-six percent (26%) of the men and 22% of the women have served for eight years or more.
Ecclesial status does not appear to affect longevity, nor does nativity. The US- and foreign-born and the religious and laity have served for similar periods.
Additional Staff Support
Full-time Hispanic Ministry office staff increased on average from 1.7 to 2.6 persons between 1990 and 1997. This represents an increase of almost one full-time staff person per office. In addition, part-time staff increased from 0.2 persons per office in 1990 to 0.8 persons in 1997. Thus, the average Hispanic Ministry staff has grown from about 2 to 3 persons during the past 10 years.
Despite these average increases, there are great disparities in the size of Hispanic Ministry staffs. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the Hispanic Ministry offices still lack additional full-time staff; that is, the Hispanic Ministry director is the only full-time staff. In addition, 49% of the directors lack additional part-time staff. Another 37% have only one part-time assistant. All told, 96% of the directors have 2 part-time staff assistants or less.
Workload
No objective indicator of changing workload is available. However, nearly three-quarters (72%) of the directors said that their workload had “greatly increased” since they assumed their position. Another 20% said their workload had “somewhat increased.” Only 8% said their workload had “ remained the same.” In the absence of additional office staff, and in light of rapidly increasing Hispanic immigration, these results are hardly surprising.
Directors in Regions 11 (California, Hawaii and Nevada), 10 (Texas) and 7 (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) were the most likely to say their workload had “greatly increased.” The directors least likely to report increased workload were in Regions 1 (New England) and 2 (New York). Aside from the New York City area, Hispanic immigration in these two regions has not dramatically increased in recent years. However, immigration in Regions 7, 10 and 11 has increased dramatically.
Budgets
The average Hispanic Ministry office budget is $125,141. Between 1990 and 1997, Hispanic Ministry budgets increased in 82% of the dioceses. However, over this same period, the total share of the diocesan budget accounted for by Hispanic Ministry actually fell from 2.4% to 2.0%. Thus, in budgetary terms, support for Hispanic Ministry has not increased since 1990 relative to other diocesan programs and priorities.
Fifty percent (50%) of the directors previously served in a more junior position in Hispanic Ministry at the diocesan level. In addition, 46% previously were active in parish lay ministry, especially ministry related to Hispanics.
The two forms of prior experience appear to be closely related: 55% of those previously active in parish lay ministry also served in a more junior position in diocesan Hispanic Ministry. Thus, about a quarter of the Hispanic Ministry directors have “worked their way up” from the parishes and often have many years of experience ministering to Hispanics.
Catholic parochial schools are another important stepping-stone in the directors’ careers. Nearly a third of the directors (31%) previously taught in these schools. By contrast, only 26% previously served in another diocesan department other than Hispanic Ministry. Thus, Hispanic Ministry directors generally do not have significant “cross-over” experience from other diocesan departments.
The data reveal some important variations in the directors’ prior work experience. For example, women are far more likely than men to have prior experience in parish lay ministry or the Catholic schools. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of the female directors previously taught in the Catholic schools, compared to just 14% of the men. Forty-eight percent (48%) of the male directors were previously parish priests, including 43% who were also local pastors.
The weakest areas of prior work experience are the public schools (6%), the private sector (10%) and academia (13%).
A surprisingly low number of directors (20%) expressed an interest in becoming a diocesan director in a department other than Hispanic Ministry. In fact, only 7% have ever applied for such a position.
AUTHOR: Stewart J. Lawrence, Puentes, Inc.,
September 20, 2000, Washington, DC
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(Diocesan Support for Hispanic Ministry)
