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While Fr Elizondo's original interview was in 1981, I was living in Houston. I had written a letter to the local Catholic newspaper about the difference between immigration when my ancestors came from Germany and immigration then. This is an update to that view.

When my ancestors came to the US late in the 19th century, it was of necessity a permanent move. They were poor and could not afford to go back. But also they came here in order to have a future away from the turmoil and poverty of Germany at that time. They brought their language, their religion and their culture.

Religion

The religious acceptance of immigrants at that time can be indicated by a story my mother told. She lived at the foot of a hill in Covington Ky. During one of the revivals of the Ku Klux Klan, crosses would be burnt on the hill above her house and overlooking the Ohio River. The other side was Cincinnati OH.

It was also true that Catholic churches in Covington when I grew up in the 1940s and 50s came in pairs - Irish and German -- the latter more numerous. Their is no indication they hated each other, just that the other was OTHER.

Language and Culture

The German language and culture were not there as I grew up. Later in life I was told by the family that all the signs -- business and public -- in German were removed the day WWI started. At the same time the use of the German language "in public" ended. It was never clear whether the first day of the war was meant or when the US entered the war.

This would indicate that German culture, at least in the Cincinnati area, ended more abruptly than any I have heard of under any circumstances short of invasion.

1980s

30 years ago Mexican immigration into the US and specifically TX was different. Because of the proximity of the two countries, any immigrant who had a job -- and there is no indication that then jobs were not plentiful -- could drive back to Mexico almost at will. The price of oil was up and the oil business was booming.

When my son was in his late elementary school years at St Jerome parish school in the early 1980s, the parish had three language groups -- English, Spanish and Vietnamese. There were trilingual Masses for moments, such as Holy Saturday, when a combined service made sense. There were separate vicars for Spanish and Vietnamese. The Vietnamese ran their own religious education program using Vietnamese nuns.

Interestingly enough, within the parish boundaries, there were two non-territorial parishes, one for Koreans and one for Polish.

My son had a friend in his class whose parents were born in Mexico. The father ran a successful sheet rock business. As the oil business hit a bump in the road in the middle 1980s, all business in Houston entered a slump. My son's friend's father's business seemed to be hanging in there.

Then his father got ill in Mexico. He went home for an extended stay. When his father rallied, he returned to Houston. This happened multiple times before the business failed and the family lost their home during a local housing crisis that included deflation and banks failing. The father moved to Chicago to find work. I left Houston about this time as I had lost my job and had found work in Pittsburgh. I don't know how the story ends.

Today

The Atlanta area and its churches have immigrants from just about every country on the globe. At work, I hear Spanish, Russian and multiple Asian languages, especially Indian.
I belong to a parish that has 2000 non-Spanish-speaking families (from 5 continents with multiple languages) and 4000 Spanish-speaking families. The dynamics of parish life seem the same as 30 years ago.

I don't think what immigrants experience is any worse what the immigrants experienced 100-150 years ago. In many ways the experience is much better in terms of access to public services without discrimination.

What has changed is that immigrants without exception can go home every so often. A friend at Delta Airlines tells me that the profit motive for flights to the south is cargo. They never overbook flights there because even with less than a full load, cargo requirements may mean passengers may have to be bumped. "Load and balance" they call it.

One last story

When I went to Pittsburgh, my family did not go at first. I was lonely and went to the Carnegie library in my work complex. One day I found a history book about something I had never heard of -- the Polish National Catholic Church.

It seems that in the late 19th century large groups of people were coming to the US from central and Eastern Europe. They had a tendency to stay in locales that centered around a church. One group of Polish immigrants became angry at their German [Catholic] bishop for not providing a pastor who spoke Polish. So like Protestants they found a priest who did speak their language and would minister to them.

The schismatic group exists to this day. I am told they are even now back in Poland.