The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-05-04

fact, too, is to be observed which has
its bearing upon the question, thai
sometimes for reasons easily under
stood, it is not to the material inter
est Of parish and of pastor to send tt
the chancery Office reports of large
populations.
How unreliable at times the direc
tory figures are may be Judged from
the fact that if you read over the vol
umes of past years, you will find thai
year after year the same numbers
We're ascribed to certain dioceses
where manifestly stationary popula
ton was not to be considered as posi-
bic, and from this other fact that some
time ago, when directories were pub.
lished by two different firms, each one
protesting a jealous desire to furnish
exact figures, one disagreed from the
other to the extent of million in our
Catholic population. 1t is unfortunate
that we cannot, by some means, for
once at least have taken thoroughly
reliable Catholic census so that we
know who we are in the country and
what we are doing for God and souls.
So far as l may legitimately draw a
general conclusion from careful study
of particular facts, fear not to say
that we have today in the United
States fourteen millions Of Catholics.
The church of America was born
when Bishop Carroll took possession
of his see of Baltimore in 1880, or, if it
is so wished, few years earlier when
the republic itself came to life. We
shall not put to the account of the
church of America situations and oc-
currences such as they may have been
under English rule in England's
American colonies. On Bishop Car
rolls arrival in Baltimore, the Catho,
lies in the country numbered thirty
thousand. 1 have said what 1 believe
our number to be today. Whence the
great increase? Manifestly through
immigration.
The fertility Of Americas fields and
the salubrity of its air challenged pop
ulations of the older world to come
hither in search of homes; the freedom
giving institutions of the republic in
tensfied natures invitation; modern
inventions narrowed seas and oceans,
and during one hundred years other
continents have been pouring into
America legions of their sons. 1t was
Gods purpose, we may verify believe,
to build up in America a new people,
that with the lifeblood Of many peo-
pies coursing in it's veins, would en-
body the best energies of other peo-
pies as well as the fairest social and
political aspirations and hopes Of pre-
ceding centuries, and rise itself into
unwonted national grandeur, worthy
of humanity's new age.
Such a nation God would not have
without the salutary graces of which
Christ's Catholic church is the GUS
todian and dispenser; and hence, upon
wards Americas shores, were borne
with others the children of Catholic
lands. The Catholic church of Amer
lea received into it's bosom the repre-
sentatives of many races, that by as
Stimulating to itself qualities of varied
types it should grow, us was growing
the country, into a peculiarly new and
vigorous commonwealth, we'll fitted
for it's duties amid IL new people in a
new age; and, in further evidence of
Gods counsel in its regard, in view of
the hardships that were to attend it's
earlier years, it found drawn to itself
in large numbers heirs of martyr races.
whose tried faith was sure never to be
faint-hearted, never to bend before
storm the most violent.
Small groups of descendants of pre-
revolutionary Catholics in Maryland,
Kentucky and Pennsylvania, vet
smaller aggregations of French and
Spanish Catholics in territories ut DIFF
ferent intervals, added to the original
United States, and then, the vast null
ttudes Of immigrants, scattered broad
cast east and west, south and north,
and the sons and daughters born to
them-such the church of America, as
a glance at the past brings it into
view.
Noble pioneer Catholics of America,
who will tell worthily Of your labors
and sacrifices! Oh, that we, who own
the rich frutage of your faith and
charity, Ire never unmindfuI vr our
deep debt of reverence and gratitude.
They were poor of earthly goods; in
nearly all cases, willing hearts and
strong arms We're their sole possess
sions with hardest labor; verify the
scriptural hewing of wood and draw
ing Of water was their lot. Only
through savings from their slender
wages We're they able to build up
churches, schools and asylums of char
ity. They We're strangers in n strange
land, not seldom ignorant of it's very
language. The laws of the country,
indeed, guaranteed them freedom of
worship; but the majority of their la
bors knew of Catholics only rs they
We're pictured in virulent anti Catholic
literature; and without much conscious
fault on the part Of the neighbors, So
cial Ostracism, lofty contempt, ieers