Lexi Salinas is a young Mexican-American Catholic who speaks English like the native-born American that she is and Spanish with the fluency of someone who grew up in a Spanish-speaking home.

The 14-year old Hill City girl and her three siblings don't need to hear the Catholic Mass celebrated in Spanish to understand it, but their mostly Spanish-speaking mother, Matilda, does.

"I prefer the Spanish Mass," Lexi said. "I feel more comfortable, with them saying it in my language. And we're more likely to go to church together on Sunday as a family."

That's the family demographic that the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City wants to reach with its newly expanded ministry to a growing immigrant Hispanic community.

Beginning in September, Matilda and Cez Salinas will be able to bring their four children, ages 5 to 18, to Mass most Sundays and understand it all, too.

The Catholic Church in western South Dakota has long offered one Mass per month in Spanish, but now, a Spanish-language Mass will be celebrated on the first and second Sundays at Blessed Sacrament Church in Rapid City; the third Sunday at St. Rose of Lima in Hill City; and the fourth Sunday of each month at St. Paul Catholic Church in Belle Fourche. All services will be at 1:30 p.m. No service will be held on the fifth Sunday of a month.

The Salinas family of Hill City is one of about 75 immigrant Hispanic families in Pennington County - perhaps 45 in Hill City and 30 in Rapid City - that a diocesan task force has identified as needing a Spanish-speaking ministry. They are part of a growing population of immigrant Mexican families in western South Dakota who keep their language alive in their homes, and they need to hear it spoken in their church, too.

In 2005, the most recent data available, the U.S. Census estimated that there were 1,965 Hispanics living in Pennington County; 862 in Meade County; 515 in Lawrence County and 289 in Butte County. Meade and Butte counties have two of the highest percentages of Hispanics in the state, 3.5 percent and 3.1 percent of each county's population, respectively. Those numbers reflect legal immigrants. The number of illegal immigrants from Mexico living in the area is unknown.

"The increasing number of Hispanic Catholics in this diocese has prompted me to review what we have been doing so that we can adjust to the changing needs of these faith-filled people and explore ways to enable them to participate in the life of the church by sharing their rich heritage and their many abilities and talents," Bishop Blase Cupich said.

Cupich tapped another immigrant, the Rev. Janusz Korban, to lead the Hispanic ministry in western South Dakota.

When the Polish-born Korban said Mass in Spanish at a church in Rapid City on a recent Sunday afternoon, the intersection of nationalities highlighted the changing face of the American Catholic church. There were about 100 Spanish-speaking people in the pews, at least half of them children under the age of 10.

Higher birth rates among Hispanics is changing the ethnic makeup of America. Hispanics constitute about 15 percent of U.S. citizens today, but by 2050, they are expected to account for 30 percent of its population, according to Census projections.

Hispanics are the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. Catholic Church, too, but this diocese has not yet ordained a native Spanish speaker to the priesthood.

Eric Munoz, 21, is a seminarian at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minn., who hopes to become the first.

"This is a great blessing," Munoz said of the weekly Masses in Spanish and the community potluck meal that follows. "We have to adapt to this new culture, but we can't forget our own."

Korban fell in love with the Mexican culture about 10 years ago, when Maria Munoz invited him along on a trip to her native Mexico.

"I felt so comfortable in Mexico. It reminds me of my own country, Poland - great hospitality of the people, economic struggles, Catholic piety," Korban said.

As a parish priest in Bonesteel, he learned firsthand of the need for a Spanish-speaking pastor in the middle of South Dakota. A woman who spoke only Spanish wanted Korban to hear her confession. He did, but he didn't understand a word of it.

Korban shared his desire to serve the Hispanic community with Cupich, who sent him on a four-month sabbatical to a Spanish-language immersion program in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in January.

"I'm still butchering English, and here I am trying to speak Spanish," Korban said as he preached and prayed in Spanish at Blessed Sacrament Church in west Rapid City. His modesty belies his newly-acquired skill with Spanish, which he says was easier for him to learn than English was.

"Polish and Spanish have more in common than Polish and English," he said.

In addition to Spanish Masses, Korban will offer the sacrament of reconciliation in Spanish and plans to lead adult Bible study groups, too.

"He's doing great," Deacon Raul Daniel said of Korban's language skills. Daniel, who spoke Spanish exclusively until he was 5 years old, is an ordained deacon of the diocese who assists Korban with the Hispanic ministry program. "His accent is actually much better going from Polish to Spanish than it is from Polish to English," Daniel said.

Church members Salvador Hernandez and his wife, Leticia, of Rapid City, along with Leticia's brother, Pascual Munoz, are happy to finally have a pastor dedicated to their spiritual needs. All three were born in Mexico. Although they understand most of the liturgy in English, the subtleties of the sermon message can sometimes get lost in translation.

"Sometimes, we miss the meaning of the sermon," Pascual said.

Bridging that language barrier is the best way to serve his new flock, Korban said.

"It's boring for you if you don't know what's being said. Our hope is that they'll keep coming back if they can understand the message," he said.

The Hernandez, Munoz and Salinas families have embraced their new Polish pastor with a warmth that amazes Korban.

"He's doing a pretty good job, and his accent's not too bad," Pascual Munoz said.

"And we're going to teach him more."

The first thing Korban learned about Hispanics was, "Mi casa es su casa."

"They show me so much love," he said. "Whenever I am invited to any Mexican family, the first words they say is, 'My house is your house.'"

That hospitality extends to his meals at La Costa, a Mexican restaurant in Rapid City owned by the Diaz family. "Every time, they give me a bill for $0.00 - simply because I take care of the Mexican people," he said. "I just feel spoiled by God and the people, both the Americans and Mexicans here in Rapid City."