The New North Carolina

I have been living in Raleigh for a few years now and have witnessed, even in that short time, dramatic changes in the area. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the state's population grew over the past decade by about 18.5%. And, many of the new arrivals are Hispanic--now 8.4% of the state's population--while white population dropped to 45%. What does this mean? Maybe not much. But, it is clear that there is a growing Catholic population in this area. And, many of the newly arrived Catholics are professionally educated. Raleigh Diocese will celebrate its 3rd Red Mass this October. It would be difficult for me to witness these changes and not feel optimistic about the future.