Cuban-Descent Catholics

Abstract

This chapter examines the history of Cuban Americans, who are the second largest Latino/a immigrant group in the United States. In the first forty years after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, around a million Cubans immigrated to the United States. The Cuban American population is distinctive from other Latino/a groups and internally diverse. They are distinctive in light of the historical events that led to their mass exodus to the United States and the manner in which they were received by the US government. They are diverse, given the historical moment of their arrival and the manner in which this shapes their political, religious, and social worldviews. This chapter focuses on the unique history of the Cuban exile, which was instrumental in the creation of the Catholic Church in Miami. While the local Miami Church played an instrumental role in the resettlement of Cuban exiles, it was the exiles themselves who were instrumental in the establishment and growth of the Catholic Church in Miami, the center of Cuban Catholic identity and diaspora in the United States.