STATE : Bishops Criticize Proselytizers

The Roman Catholic bishops of California and northwestern Mexico today issued a strongly worded statement criticizing other religions they say try to recruit Catholics “at any cost.”

The 30 bishops who comprise the Sacramento-based California Catholic Conference singled out Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called the Mormon Church.

The statement said it was “issued to Catholic clergy, religious and lay leaders working with Hispanics, Hispanics who no longer practice Catholicism, and leaders and members of sects and other religious groups.”

The Rev. Ricardo Chavez, director of Latino affairs for the conference, estimated that 5 million U.S. Latinos have left the Catholic Church in the last decade.