U.S. Bishops Launch Spanish-Language Page On Facebook

 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in an ongoing effort to more effectively reach Hispanic and Spanish-speaking Catholics, has launched a Spanish-language page on the social-networking site Facebook. The page, which can be found at www.facebook.com/USCCBEspanol, will feature a variety of updates from USCCB on news, issues of concern to the Catholic Church and faith-building resources.

"Hispanics make up 16 percent of the total U.S. population, almost 40 percent of U.S. Catholics, and 50 percent of U.S. Catholics under age 25," said Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Communications. "It is critically important to engage this demographic, especially through the expanding field of social media, and provide them with accurate, quality information that encourages them to grow in their faith."

USCCB has moderated an English-language page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usccbsince 2009. It is currently "Liked" by over 40,000 people. USCCB also provides English and Spanish feeds on Twitter at http://twitter.com/usccband http://twitter.com/USCCBEspanol.

The launch of the page coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month. Concurrently, USCCB's Secretariat for Cultural Diversity announced new statistics that reflect the accelerated growth of Hispanic presence in dioceses and archdioceses nationwide. States including North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee have experienced over 100 percent growth over the last decade, according to the U.S. Census. The information is available online: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/cultural-diversity/hispanic-latino/demographics/