The way Latinos worship is gradually changing in American due to a new trend in the Catholic world known as Charismatic Catholicism.

One woman says she had her first encounter with the Holy Spirit after becoming a carismatica: "In that moment, I laughed, I cried, I fell into the Holy Spirit."

A former drug addict from the Bronx joined the Charismatic Catholic movement 10 years ago because his parents' style of Catholicism was never really interesting to him. Latinos are a driving force in the Charismatic Catholicism movement, which dates back 50 years.

Jim Sheehan, a Charismatic priest and chaplain, says traditional Catholicism does not connect with the Latinos that he ministers to, especially recent immigrants who are struggling. "I think that many of us have a distant relationship with a God of the future," he said. "Charismatics, Latinos expect God to come today -- hoy día."

An article yesterday reported that "according to a recent survey conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, about one-third of Latino Catholics in the U.S. identify as Charismatic. For non-Latino Catholics, this number is closer to one-tenth, according to an earlier poll by the Pew Research Center."

Certain clergy feel a need to reach out to young Latinos who increasingly embrace American culture. "The New Generation Latinos (NGL's) are English-speaking and bilingual Latinos between the ages of 14 and 34 who don't lose their Latino identities but who are English speakers. The Episcopal Church initially focused on monolingual Spanish-speaking Latinos, but we realize that the children of monolingual Spanish-speakers also need the presence of Christ in their lives," said Daniel Velez-Rivera of Virginia.

Studies also show that Latinos wish to have more leaders who represent them. According to the Dallas News, polls show that "Among those of Cuban heritage, the most-named leader was U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Among Puerto Ricans, it was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer. And among Mexican-Americans, it was Sotomayor and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa."