The Irish standard., 1903-05-23

ing capacity of 2S3, or accommodation
for twice their membership. Little
wonder then that they appear poorly
attended
Catholics support 12OCo priests,
which is one-siNth of the other two
denominations. This is probably the
reason Why we do not hear the cry in
this country that Catholics are priest
ridden. for in this case the corn is
lmlpaly on The other foot. wish to
state that these figures are very nrarlv
correct. by every nearly" mean fol.
the purpose of demonstrating the t.
suits of my investigations. l1nr in
stance. the church directory OF 1901
gives 10,l2I Catholic churches and Il
population of 100000, while | give
in round numbers 10000 churches and
loo00,0oo populations. 1t is evident
that the results are not materially at
fected by giving only the round num-
bers, in fact, it assists the eye to leave
out the smaller figures. AS did the
same in the figures of the two Prot
estant denominations, and took all
from the year 1901, the proper proper
tons are very closely maintained Ii.
regard to my letter of January II. l
wish to add that when | stated that the
Catholics Outnumbcred the Protcstants
i'll fourteen states, l gave two more
States than the official census of 1890.
These were Minnesota and Michigan
While at the time the census of iSDD
WAS taken these states showed Il ma
jority Of Protestants, later figures OBJ
tanned at the Congressional Library,
gave Catholics Il slight advantage for
the year 1901. The religious census
of 1890 was taken by the enumerators,
but was compiled from statements re-
ceivcd from the official records Of the
various denominations. There is also
IN occasional variation from the fig
ures of the church directory in the
Catholic popula ton of some of the
states, which L gave in my letter of
January II. Even if these figures
were the same as given in the church
directory, they would not affect the
place of those states among the four
teen gave, but might change the order
in which | gave them. The church
directory. however, does not claim
absolute accuracy, as in some cases ii
gives the population as only approXi-
mate.
out of IT archdioccses the church
directory OF 1901 gives the population
of only three without qualification.
Ten are given as about" ana one,
the archdiocese of New York. as "es-
timEtcd." o. the seventy dioccseS,
fifty are unprecedented, one is "esti
mated" and in the diocese of Grand
Rapids $1,000 families :rr given. This
leaves only Is with the population def
vic:,ritcs apostolic. While the church
directory is probably close enough for
ordinary purposes. ii may be sufficient
~ out of the way, in Il case where
very accurate figures are required. to
cause confusion. While | do not
claim for my figures minute accuracy,
know hat my sources of information
are as reliable as those OF the church
directory. AS to my contention that
Catholics outn,llnbcr the Protestant
denominations in fourteen states, that
will stand. at least until the end of
this year, when probably another
state will be added to the number. for
the Catholic Church does not stand
sill. especially when the proportion of
Catholics anon" immi"rants has been
steadily increasing during The last
live years.
u. l.. &HUNEl'. I'h. y.