The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1891-08-26
The Roman Catholic Church in
the South.

The most satisfactory statistics
of the Roman Catholic Church in
this country ever published, have
been announced in a late census
bulletin. There are 6,25O,O45 COM
municants in all the States and
territories. If the baptized youth
should be included in this enumera-
ton the aggregate would probably
be something over 100000. 1t
thus appears that the numerical
strength of the Roman Catholic
Church in the United States is not
so great as has been supposed. AS
the whole population of the country
is about 63,OOO,OO0, only the one
ninth OF 1t is Roman Catholic.
One of the most interesting and
suggestive facts in regard to the
Catholic population is its distribu-
ton. The strength of this Church
is proportionally much greater in
the North than in the South. Only
about the one-seventh of it is found
south of Mason and Dixon's line,
and much the larger part of it in
the border States. In the States of
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Geor-
gia, Mississippi, North and South
Carolina, there are but GLASS COM
munlcants. In Louisiana there are
211,763, and in Texas 1O5, 1873. Geor-
gia, the empire State of the South.
has only 1928; South Carolina
has $500, while North Carolina has
only 2,640 There are in the two
States of Pennsylvania and Illinois
1924, 9O1 Roman Catholic communi-
cants, 1880 more than in all the
Southern States. The State of New
York has 1,153, 1870, which exceeds
the whole number in the South by
3O1 ,2O9!
The foreign population of the
South, as compared with that of the
North, probably bears about the
sum numerical proportion to it as
does the Catholic membership of
the South to the North. According
to the census of 1880 the foreign
born population of the South was
less than 65O,OO0, while the foreign
population of the State of New York
alone was 1,211,379, almost double
the foreign population of the South.
When the statistics of the last CEN
sus are fully tabulated, it will. no
doubt, be found that the propor-
tionate gain of the North has been
far greater that that of the South.
The Roman Catholic is essentially
a foreign Church. Wherever there
have been large additions of the
foreign element to the population,
there the growth of the Church has
been rapid. In the South, particu-
larl y In the cotton belt, there are
but few foreigners, and there the
membership of the Church is small.
We can easily understand WHY orr
immigrants from Europe do not 90
South. They mostly belong to what
is called the laboring class. They
work in mines, mills, and factories.
And as the manufacturing indus
tries of the South are developed. the
foreign element there will increase.
and with it the Roman Catholic
Church.
The large negro population in
some of the Southern States has
been a cause of anxiety to many of
the whites. They have felt that if
part of it could be exchanged for
European foreigners, both races
would be gamers. But whatever
may be the advantages or disadvan-
tages to the South, as such, of its
large negro population, one thing is
certain, it has kept out very un-
desirable foreign element, which
has become a controlling religious
and political force in many northern
communities.
North Carolina, with only 2.64O
Roman Catholics, and about the
same number of foreigners, who are
probably mostly the same persons.
has more homogeneity in its popu-
lation than any other State. and
has, it is believed, the most con-
tented, the most orderly, and the
most moral population of any State
in the Union If the constantly
diminishing number of her "poor
whites" we're educated and brought
under the same moral and religious
influences as their more prosperous
neigh bors, North Carolina would be
the model American commonwealth.
United Presbyterian.
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