This article considers the state of Catholic higher education in the United States in regard to the growing Hispanic/Latinx population and makes the assessment that Catholic higher education is unprepared for and oblivious to the demographic shift.

By the year 2036, Bravo believes that 30% of the high school graduates in the United States will be Hispanic.  Pointing out that of the 226 Catholic colleges and universities in the US, 32 are classified as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) and 36 are classified as emerging HSI, he poses the question, “will we respond and be intentional about welcoming, integrating and celebrating our growing Hispanic student population?”

Public discourse on Catholic identity is often exclusive and “fails to include a multicultural, multiracial, panethnic people of God,” he asserts. The anti-Hispanic sentiment and lack of representation in education deserves reflection and a thoughtful response.  A culturally responsible ministry and representation within the classroom is needed.

This article echoed some of the discrimination outlined in this week’s readings involving immigrants’ experiences of exclusion and marginalization due to race, language, and social policy.  Bartlett (2011) discusses findings that immigrant children often attend lower quality schools and shares that the language hierarchy and language education policy makes a difference in the effectiveness of education for immigrants. Haitian students living in the Dominican Republic shared the difficulties of obtaining documentation and fees to access education, and they also suggested that their race and language accents affected their treatment within the schools (Bartlett, 2011).  This discussion correlates with the discussion of prevalent xenophobia within South Africa expressed in the Al Jazeera video.  

At the heart of Catholic Social Teaching is the belief that every human being is made in the image of God.  We know that education greatly impacts one’s ability to live a good, right life.  Bravo calls on the Catholic Church, and Catholic colleges and universities in particular, to consider who we are and whose we are, asking, “will we continue to passively allow the demographic shifts to shape higher education, or, will we meet this moment intentionally?”  

Al Jazeera (n.d) Migration Inside and Outside of Africa.

Bartlett, L. (2011) ‘South-south migration and education: The case of people of Haitian 

descent born in the Dominican Republic’. In Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education 

Vol.42 No.3 [pp.1-22].