The Twilight of Ethnicity Among American Catholics of European Ancestry

Abstract

The Catholic ethnic groups of European origins are essential to any assessment of ethnicity in the United States. Their ethnicity is believed widely to remain vigorous many decades after their immigration. Indeed, by the measure of some important characteristics, such as rates of college attendance and interethnic marriage, they seem distinct from American core groups, specifically Protestants of British ancestry. However, the trends of these characteristics among the Catholic groups, indicated by differences between birth cohorts, reveal their growing similarity to the American core. The Catholic groups appear to be assimilating rapidly, and it is argued that their ethnicity is entering a twilight stage.