The sun., 1903-11-23
CITY'S CHURCH ATTENDANCE.
FIRST FRUITS OF A CENSUS TO
he TAKEN IN FOUR PARTS.
In a Section OF Manhattan Containing
43s,O65 Population. . Total Attend.
ance OF 100. .O8l shown-s2 Per Cent.
OF the PrOtestants and 81 Per Cent.
OF the Catholics Went to Church.

ance OF lOO, ,O8l ShOwn-S2 Per Cent
OF the PrOtestants and 81 Per Cent
of the Catholics Went to Church
The Church News Association is making
a census of church attendance on Man
haitian Island. 1t has divided the territory
into four districts and began counting on
Nov. is. carefully choosing Sunday when
the weather was normal, the plan being to
! take one district each Sunday. 1t now
announces these results of the count in
its first district
This district comprises the Twenty first.
Twenty-third. Thirty-first Thirty-second
and Thirty-third Assembly districts. and
as much of the Thirty-fourth Assembly
| district as is on Manhattan Island. Some
authorities give few more than IOe places
| of Christian worship in this section but
| the associations enumerators were unable
| to find more than 1O6 The section is sub
! tantially all that north of the northern
limit Of Central Park. save that on the
West Side it comes south to Eighty-1rst
street between the Park and Columbus
avenue, to Eighty-sixth street between
Columbus and Amsterdam avenues and to
Eighty-eighth street west Of Amsterdam
avenue.
OF the 100 places OF public worship 81
are Protestant and 10 Roman Catholic
The population Is, at this time, 43S, ,O65
on the basis Of the ratio Of growth since
1900 laid down by the Federation of
Churches, The association found that on
a pleasant Sunday. when almost every
body had returned to town, 1OO, ,eel persons
attended places Of public Christian worship
all services This number included the
children who attended public worship
not including Sunday schools. 1t is just
a fraction above 20 per cent. Of the popu-
lation
The membership Of the eighty-seven
Protestant churches in the district is $3.50,
according to the official n lords OF the
churches-all actual communicant MEM
bers. If this number be multiplied by
three and half, to get the Protestant popu-
lation. as ia done by the FEEDER alton Of
Churches. the number is l2s,345. On the
same basis the Roman Catholic population
Of the district belonging in nineteen
churches, is $500.
The Protestant population Of the district
is 29.3 per cent. of the total, and it was
found that s8 per cent was present in the
churches. The Roman Catholic member
ship is 2ll per cent. Of the population, and
l4.S per CtHt. Vi tIc pOpuldtlOu dttenueu
the churches. Count was made of all SER
vices at which the public might be expected
&c attend but no count was made OF attend
ance at Christian Endeavor, sodality and
similar meetings, having special members.
No attempt was made to ascertain how
many persons attend two services.
OF the $3.50 persons at the Protestant
services, 2O,4SS were there in the morning,
and 1s2e2 in the evening. This latter
large number was caused in large measure
Nevertheless, it was found that more peo-
pie attended the Disciples Of Christ Church,
the only one in the district, in the evening
than in the morning, and the same was true
of the twelve Baptist churches. In these
there were 1,75l present in the morning and
l,s45 at night.
The eleven Methodist churches had 2,4Os
in the morning and 4.39S in the evening.
Calvary and Grace Methodist churches
always have large Sunday night congrega-
tons. Among the miscellaneous churches
the night attendance WAS considerably the
larger, due to the fact that several have
only afternoon or evening services.
In the nineteen Roman Catholic churches
the total morning attendance, from the
early masses up to and including that AT
and evening the attendance was $3.50.
If the Protestant population be counted at
12s,345. then Protestants got into their
churches, all day. only ~ per cent. If
dCt CSuulet, 'Iiel az
tendance percentage exceeded 100, for they
had In all $3.50 persons, whereas their
actual communicates in the district num-
ber only $3.50. BY the same comparison
where Protest8nts make showing of 32
per cent, Roman Catholics make one OF
81 per cent when actual attendance is
compared with Catholic membership as
reckoned by Catholic authorities.
In the Protestant churches the number of
men was l2747, women 81 ,948 and children
1867. In these churches the proportion OF
parents who brought children with them
was large. This number OF children does
not over contingents from Sunday schools,
nor attendance from institutions, but chill
dren who came with parents and sat in
family pews
At the Roman Catholic churches the num-
ber of men was 1885, Of women Al ,302 and
children 4,373. These were also children
who occupied pews, although in few cases
they were attendants al masses specially
intended for children. II was found, how
ever, that the number Of children attending
with parents was much greater in Prot
estant than in Roman Catholic churches.
This table shows by religious bodies the
number of churches in the district, the MEM
hershp claimed, the total attendance all
day and the number of men preSent: