Ken R. Crane

Crane shows how Latino churches serve as a forum for maintaining Latino cultural values.

Crane's work shows how a significant number of Latino youth born in the rural Midwest have stayed involved in church out of ethnic and family solidarity. Although these youths do not show the same zeal and enthusiasm for certain traditions held dear by their parents, they have kept the church as a vital social space for expressing their own spirituality and ethnic identity. Latino churches, in turn, are effective in shaping the lives of youth because they function both as supporters and extensions of the family. The family-congregation nexus combines to enable a more selective form of acculturation that maintains a high-level of family cohesion and linguistic-cultural continuity. Crane's study shows that religion continues to increase the diversity of society rather than facilitate the "incorporation" of ethnic groups into a cultural "mainstream."

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Second Generation and Ethnic and Immigrant Congregations in Theoretical Perspective
3. Methodology
4. The Community Context
5. Community of Memory: St. Barbara's
6. Born Again in the U.S.A.
7. School: Old Timers and Hot Waters
   
8. Protestant, Catholic, and the American Dream
   
9. The Intersection of Ethnicity, Family, and Faith
   
10. Conclusion
    
Appendices
References
Index