AUSTIN, Texas — You've come from a traditionally Catholic country to the land of freedom and opportunity.

But you also find it's the home of consumerism, secularized holidays and secular attitudes toward family. You see store-front churches, Mormon temples, Scientology and even Islam attracting other Hispanic Catholics, and then cringe when children come home from public schools with condoms in hand or dressed like gang members.

Mexican immigrant Tina Ruiz is surprised by the anti-family attitude she finds at a public health clinic where she goes for prenatal care.

Doctors and nurses at the clinic began insisting that the mother of five use contraceptives, even though she told them she is Catholic and it's forbidden. “But once I told them that, they insisted all the more,” Ruiz said.

After months of battling with doctors and nurses, she finally gave in.

“I took the condoms and the pills so they would stop harassing me,” she said. “But I never use them. I just throw them out.”

With the explosion of Hispanic immigrants in the United States, Ronaldo Cruz, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs, said the Church faces an “overwhelming” challenge since there are so few Hispanic priests. Father Miguel Solorzano, spokesman for the National Association of Hispanic Priests of the USA, agreed.

“The biggest problem we have is we don't have enough Spanish-speaking priests,” he said. “We're trying to promote Hispanic vocations among immigrants but it's very difficult because many do not speak English well, they don't have a high school diploma or they are illegal aliens.”

Many immigrants also struggle with loneliness and not feeling welcomed in their churches, said Capuchin Father Donato Lippert, administrative executive of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, D.C. “American culture is very individualistic, so loneliness is a big thing.”

“The Church here in America is very cold to them and distant,” said Father Ovidio Pecharroman, director of the Spanish Apostolate of the Diocese of Arlington, Va. “Many say you learn the language first, then we'll tolerate you. But toleration is not a Christian word. … If you are in Argentina, you are welcome in any Catholic church because it is Catholic, it is universal. The same should be true here.”

In addition to a dearth of priests, immigrants are struggling with the temptations of American culture.

“Many get disillusioned about the material needs” and begin to question their faith and religion, Ronaldo Cruz of the bishops’ conference said, because “they live in a consumer culture that says they have to live a certain lifestyle.”

“Whether you want it or not, you start becoming more and more materialistic and your priorities start to change,” said Adrianna del Rincon, a Mexican immigrant living in Washington, D.C. “You are constantly bombarded by commercials and literature that is a constant reminder that you have to have a certain lifestyle. It's easy to get distracted with other things … and you want more and more things … so you have less time to pray and to care for other people than you did before.”

“Many families and friends find it very difficult because they are absorbed with work,” she said. “It's part of our weakness in our human nature to never be content and so you start creating needs … and then you want more and more things.”

That's another problem many immigrants face: taking care of immediate needs such as housing, jobs, medical care and obtaining legal residence status.

“Many have to work two and three jobs just to survive,” Cruz said, adding that Catholic Charities and the bishops’ Hispanic ministry regional offices in New York, Miami, San Antonio and Denver and the 150 diocesan offices are doing what they can to help meet these needs.

In north Denver, for example, Auxiliary Bishop José Gómez is establishing a center that will offer adult education and language classes and referrals for medical and legal assistance, along with teaching the faith and forming Hispanics to be leaders in the community.

And Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Sacramento, Calif., offers English and CCD classes in Spanish. Legionary of Christ Father Salvador Gómez, director, said the center publishes a bulletin that informs immigrants about how to make a successful transition to life in the United States as well as how to live a life that is closely in line with God's will.

In addition to personal outreach, a number of organizations are beginning to use mass media, particularly radio, to affirm and form the faith of Hispanics, said Alan Napleton, managing director of New Evangelization of America, which seeks to bring together communication initiatives across the United States and Latin America.

“We [as a Church] really don't do a good job utilizing communications, and this is a media culture,” he said. “We're seeing Christian Spanish radio, for instance, in Houston and Dallas, and guess what? It's coming to a city near you. While we're trying to get on the air, the Protestants have it figured out.”

One apostolate, Hombre Nuevo, a Catholic multi-media center based in Los Angeles, has had great success producing radio programs to promote the Catholic faith and human values among the Hispanic population of the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean.

New Evangelization's annual conference held in Dallas in February introduced such initiatives as ESNE, a Spanish-language media effort based in Los Angeles that offers 24-hour Catholic radio and live venue events drawing as many as 15,000 attendees.

Father Alberto Cutie, general director of Pax Catholic Communications since 2001, is making similar strides with Spanish radio in Miami.

“Different studies have proven that the Latino community listen to the radio more hours than the Anglo,” Napleton said. “It's an excellent medium.”

Despite their difficulties, many immigrants remain optimistic and see their culture influencing American culture for the better.

“Hispanic immigrants bring something very good to the Church in America,” said Carmen Peacher, a Georgetown, Texas, resident who comes from Guadalajara, Mexico. “We have very strong family values and do a lot of things as a family, even going to the supermarket, as well as a deep respect for life and love of the Church.”

Although Antonio Cruz, the Dallas father whose wife was counseled to abort, said he worries about his children being influenced in the public schools, his family “prays the rosary every day” and he teaches his kids about the “bad things that are out there,” like drugs and premarital sex, “and where they take you.” He said he knows that as long as they stay close to God, they will be okay.

Hispanic immigration also poses a great opportunity for the Church in America, said Father Lippert of Washington's Spanish Catholic Center.

“We face an incredible opportunity to re-evangelize the United States and we must capitalize on the Hispanic immigration to evangelize,” he said. “They have a natural love for Mary, a simplicity of faith and a youthful enthusiasm and vigor that can enrich our faith and our Catholic Church in the United States. If we join together the good of both cultures, we can enrich the United States as a whole. It is a chance to be more Catholic, more universal.”

Lisa Makson writes from Alexandria, Virginia.

Ellen Rossini contributed to this story.