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

I Where stood the one bishop and his
two missionary companions, there
stand today throngs Of bishops and Of
priests; among them a very prince Of
the church. In place of the little wood
built chapel, there arises stately
temple; instead of the few pioneers,
there are the thousand laymen; and
the modest ceremonial of the first
episcopal installation makes room for
highest pomp and circumstances that
Catholic rite allows. Nor, indeed, is
it Il mere episcopal installation that we
are witnessing; Bishop Loras' see has
grown into metropolitan dignity, and
today, over the shoulders of Dubuque's
prclate floats the Roman pallium.
And all that our eyes perceive is but
n feeble Indication of the happenings
of siXty-two years, of which the
churches OF Iowa, Minnesota and the
two Dakotas are today the witnesses.
In the portion of Chrst's vineyard
blessed by Bishop Loras on the 10Th
day Of April, 1S39-whcre before his
arrival there were three humble chap
els, some hundreds of Catholics, and
not one resident priest, there are now
eight bishops, two OF whom are metro
poltans, go priests, 97G churches, and
Il prOportiOnnte number Of converts,
schools, colleges and Institutes Of char
ity, with Il Catholic population of G7S,-
500. Such are the figures given by the
Catholic directory for the year 1901.
Surely, wonders have been wrought in
the church OF northwestern America.
Let lis therefor offer praise and thanks
to the Almighty God let us believe
such wonders were not wrought with
out IL special Providence, the mysteri-
Gus designa of which It is our duty to
discover, so that we may in humility
and carncstncss work the better in CO.
operation with the nll-wise and all
bountiful will.
And now l widen my theme and beg
my hearers to have in mind the church
in the United States.
The story Of the church in the former
diocese of Dubuque is but an illustra-
tion of It's growth in the whole coun-
try. Yesterday the church Of the Unit
cd States was the little mustard seed
Behold it today; it has become a great
tree, with branches Overspreading the
whole land. In 1850 America received
it's first bishop; there were, then,
in the country to acknowledge his jur-
isdictiOn score Of priests and 10000
Catholics. AS dawns the twentieth
century, there are in the United States,
according to reports in the Catholic
directory, thirteen archbishops, eighty
bishops, within a few figures 5000
priests, and n Catholic population Of
100000.
The church in America is passing
from infancy and adolescence into ma
turity; the duty of her guardians and
her sons, at this solemn moment in her
life, is to receive lessons from the past,
to give promises to the future.
We have according to the directory
OF 1901, a Catholic population of H.
OOO,OOO. nm convinced that this fig
ure Is much below our actual numbers.
1t is made up from returns Of pastors
to diocesan chanceries, and of CHANGER
les to the publishers of the directory.
But who has looked closely into the
matter will in many cases take such
returns as merest guessing. Seldom,
If ever, are they the result of exact
census work; rarely are they based on
the same lines Of computation. Here
Catholics are those who go to Easter
Communion; there they are those who
occupy and pay for pews; elsewhere
they are those who are personally
known to the pastor. count as Cath
olics those whom the Holy Church
counts as such-who were baptized and
have not by a formal act renounced
the faith. Especially in large cities
vast numbers Of Catholics, somewhat
neglectful Of religious practices, or 60
ing now to one church and now to
another, escape the notice of all pas
tors. How often it happens that
priests are called to the bedside Of