The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-12-03
CHURCH IN AMERICA.
Where Catholicism Thrives Without
Government Support.
New York SUM

lNGW DIX sum-
When the abolition of the Concordat
between France and the papacy now
resolved upon by the Combes ministry
was first mooted seriously, the French
archbishops and bishops were requested
TO say what, in their opinion, would be
the effect of such measure upon Cath
oliciSr1. Most of the replies were de-
i spondent, but a few prelates took
hopeful view of the future. pointing out
the astonishing progress made in the
| United States by the Roman Catholic
church during the last half century.
Here not only do the Catholic episco-
pate and priesthood receive no aid
from the federal or state governments,
and must rely exclusively on voluntary
contributions, but Catholics like all
| other citizens, are taxed for the sup
| port of secular schools.
1t is probable that if all of the French
bishops had before them the latest edt-
ton of the Catholic Directory. every
one of the mwould look forward with
considerable confidence to the situation
with which they will be presently con-
fronted. 1t is well known that at the
outbreak Of the revolutionary war
there were very few Catholics in any OF
the thirteen colonies, except Maryland
and even there they had long been
subject to grievous disabilities. Those
disa bilitieS were soon remOVd. however.
and liberation became the rule in all OF
the states which made themselves indie
pendent of Great Britain. Nevertheless
the expansion of Catholicism in this
country did not begin to take place on
q great scale until nsar the close OF
the first half of the nineteenth century,
after the tremendous immigration from
Ireland and from the Catholic sections
of Germany had set in. Al present the
Catholic hierarchy in the United States
comprises fifteen aTchbishops and
eighty-two bishops. with u correspond
ing number of dioceses. There are
over 11000 churches and more than
$4,000 priests, secular and regular; most
If not all of the religious orders are
represented. The total number of chill
dren in schools. orphanages- and other
institutions belonging to the Roman
Catholic church is about 1fS1.0O0. The
Catholic population at the beginning
of the current year is computed by the
Catholic Directory at II, $4,000. The es-
innate, however is larger by more than
2.e00 600 than the computation made by
DR. II. X. Carroll. and published in the
Christian Advocate about a year ago
The absolute volume of the Catholic
population is sufficiently impressive:
but relatively it is sometimes eXaE-
gerated, because all men, women and
children who have been baptized as
Catholics are classified as such unless
they have formally repudiated the Ro-
man Catholic church. In the stats-
tics of other religious bodies only the
communicates are enumerated, and
therefore in the case of most of them
the figures given should be more than
doubled if they are 10 be compared with
the Catholic returns. According TO the
Christian Advocate, the Methodist COM
municants in the United States num-
bered 6.0S4,OO in 1908. If we add all
persons affiliated by family ties to
these communicates we should get 4
total considerably exceeding 100000.
The same authority put the total num-
Der of Baptist communicates in this
country on the same date at 1929. 900.
We should therefore be justified in COM
putting the Baptist population" at
over ten millions. The number of
Presbyterian communicates in the same
year was 1,635,0O0, which would indi-
cate q Presbyterian population of up
ward of four millions The Lutheraus
We're somewhat more numerous in 1908,
having 1,745O00. While the Lutheran
population probably fell but little
short of five millions If we turn to
the number of churches possessed by
the different religious organizations, we
find the Catholic church surpassed by
only four Protestant sects. For exam
pie, the Methodists had last year 56,7S7
churches; the Baptists, SLAP; the
Presbyterians. 15.215. and the Luther
ans II. 7S5, against the 11,070 attributed
to the Catholics We have seen that
the Catholic priests. secular and regu-
lar, are now computed at over 1900.
The Presbyterian ministers in 1908
numbered 12207: the Baptist ministers,
3o,564, and the Methodists. 1920. On
the other hand, there are more Cath
Ole priests than there are ministers
in the Lutheran and Protestant Epis-
copal churches put together
This certainly is an amazing exhibit
to be made at the end of half cen
tuTy, during the whole of which the
Catholic church has received no as
sistance from the federal or state gov
ernments, and during the first part of
which it was eyed with a sectarian
prejudice that did not always stop short
of persecution. If, indeed, the Know
Nothing party could have had its way,
it would have imposed upon Catholics
such griveous disabilities as they had I
been compelled to bear in Maryland |
during a section of the pre-Revolu |
tionary epoch The collapse Of the |
Native American which was really i
an anti-Catholic party, should encour
age French Catholics TO face with con- |
fidence any trials through which they
may have to pass.