The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-08-03
THE MACS AND THE 1o's.
There are Six Of Each Among the
Catholic Bishops.

UP to this time the Macs and the O's
in the Catholic hierarchy of the Unit
ed States have been as 6 to ), says the
New York Sun. This seems to be
about the same proportion they hold
among the 1887 members of the
priesthood, parochial and regular, the
members being, according to glance
at the latest issue (19OD of the official
Catholic Directory, 639 Macs-not in
Guiding the Rev. Ignatius Maciezewski
of Shamokin, Pa, perhaps the Polish
descendant of some wandering Celt-
and 517 O's. The rule that excludes
the shamokin pastor must also be held
to bar the Rev. +. w. sOberbrockling
of Luxembourg, Iowa, in any attempt
to swell the list of O's. Il
There is neither Mac nor an O
among the archbishops and the late
Cardinal McCloskey was their only
representative that has, as yet, reach
ed the metropolitan dignity. The Macs
among the bishops are NlcCloskey,
Louisville; Mcdonnell, Brooklyn; Nc
Faul, Trenton; McGavick, Chicago,
McGolrick, Duluth, and McQuaid,
Rochester. The Os are O'Dea, Van
couver; O'Donahue, Indianapolis; o.
German, Sioux Falls; O'Reilly, Peoria;
O'Connell. Portland, and O'Connor,
Newark
The social indications of these names
are evident. Among the archbishops
there are two French representatives,
Chapelle and Bourgade; one German,
Katzer; four native Irish, Ryan, Fee.
han, Keane and Ireland; three Irish
Americans, Corrigan, Williams and
Kahn; and one pure United States,
Elder. Archbishop Riordan of San
Francisco was born in New Bruins
wick. of Irish parents, and Archbish-
op Christie Of Portland, Ore, is also
a British-American of Scotch ancestry.
Among the 80 bishops 40 are of Irish
or Irish-American extraction; 10 are
German, eight are French, two are
Belgian, and Bishop Michaud of Bur-
lington, VT, has table all to himself.
His father was French Canadian
and his mother an Irish woman.
The Catholic laity Of the United
States is a conglomerate body of all
the Catholic nations of Europe and
their native-born children, with the
Irish in the lead, the Germans second,
the Italians third and French, French
Canadians, Bohemians, Huns, Poles,
Austrians, Greeks, Syrians in various
proportions. Every nationality is rep
resented in the priesthood. Recruits
are drawn from Ireland, England,
Frnnce. Germany, Italy, Switzerland
Poland, Hungary, Syria, Spain and
| Mexico
Once the priests We're nearly all for
eign born, but now, with the increase
of population and the growth of the
seminaries, not only are the native
born ecclesiastical students preferred
by the bishops, but many of them,
save in exceptional cases, refuse adop.
ton to any but subjects born in their
respective dioceses.
The matter of a native clergy was
once the subject of great controversy
here between the late Archbishop
Hughes and the famous Orestes A.
Brownson and his Review. There was
a Catholic club in this city-it was in
1S56-made up of small number of
priests and alaymen whose object was
stated to be the Americanizing Of the
church. The late Rev. DR.. Jeremiah
Cummings Of st. Stephens church! and
the Rev. DR.. Ambrose Manahan were
leading spirits in the organization.
The article by Brownson in the Re-
view on the EMISSION of America" and
one by DR.. Cummings on "vocations
to the Priesthood" gave rise to the con-
troversy. In its course the filling up
Of the seminaries with candidates for
the ministry direct from Ireland and
Germany, and their management and
mode of instruction were sharply criti-
, cized,. without, however, the necessary
allowance for time and circumstances
and the want of means on the part of