The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-03-30

fourteen AFCnplShoPS - Elghfy-three
Bishops-over 100000 Catholics
+ More than a million and third
Parochial School chiIdren-ca tho-
lie Population Of twenty-five States.
There are 15,O15,569 Catholics in
the United States according to the
1912 edition Of ''The Oficial Catholic
Directory" published by P. J. Kennedy
and Sons, of Barclay Street, New
York. The figures given in the 1912
volume include only continental Unit
ed States and do not embrace the
number of Catholics in any of our Is
land possessions.
Comparing the figures of the 1911
and 1912 issues a gratifying gain is
seen in the number of Catholics, for
the Directory of 1912 shows an in
crease of 396,8O8 souls for the year.
The figure 15,O15,569 includes all
Catholics and does not deduct Is per
cent for children and infants as was
done by the government in it's census
of 10000, and which is invariably
done by Protestant statisticians when
quoting numbers of Catholics. 1t is of
interest at this time, also, to look
back ten years and discover what
gains have been made. CHANGING
through the 1902 Catholic Directory
published by the Wiltzius Co., in Mil
waukee, it is seen that the Catholic
population at that time was 10,976,757
and compared with the present total
of 15,015,569, gain of 4,03S,S12 is re-
corded for the decade.
Not only has there been a gain in
the number of souls, but there has,
also, been an increase in the number
of Catholic clergymen, in the number
of churches, schools, academies and
charitable institutions during the past
year, and by referring to 'The Official
Catholic Directory" for 1912 it is found
that there are 17,491 Catholic priests
in the United States. Of these 1896
are diocesan clergymen and 4,495 are
| members of religious orders. This
figure shows gain of 4O7 priests.
Four hundred and seventy-eight adj
ditional churches are recorded in
the Kennedy publication, and the gen.
eral summary shows that at the be-
ginning of this year there were 1899
Catholic churches in America. Of
these 1888 nearly 10000 have resi-
dent pastors or, to be exact, 1886
churches have resident priests, the
other 1883 being mission churches,
that is, attended from neighboring
parishes.
There are at present fourteen arch
bishops in the United States, each of
the fourteen archiepiscopal sees being
occupied. Three are cardinal arch
bishops. In addition to these there
are two titular archbishops in the
United States, both being retired Or
dinaries. 1t is remarkable fact, and
deserves special attention, that accord
| ing to the Directory there is only one
vacancy in the bishoprics of this
country. The Vicariate of Browns
vile, Texas, is mourning the loss of
| it's bishop. All told, there are 81 bish-
ops in continental United States, some
of these, of course, being coadjutor
and auxiliary bishops. In addition
there are two arch-abbots and fifteen
abbots
Eighty-three seminaries are located
| in various parts of the country
and 5000 students are preparing for
the holy priesthood in these semina-
ries. There are 229 colleges for boys
and 7O1 academies for girls, although
there are more students in the 229
colleges for boys than there are in the
| 701 academies for girls.
One of the most interesting feat
ures of the Directory's table are the
statistics for parochial schools. Ac-
4 cording to the Directory there are s.
| 119 parishes which have schools at
tached, with an attendance of 1885,
1856. Over and above the parochial
schools there are 289 orphan asylums,
in which 47,111 orphans are taken care
of. Counting the children in paroeh.
ial schools, the number of young
ladies and young men in academies and
colleges, and including the orphans
and children in other charitable insti-
tutions, it is found that at present
there are under Catholic care in the
United States 1,540,049 young people.
Special attention has been given to
the Directory figures, and as the re-
ports were received from the chancery
Office of every diocese in the country,
the figures must be taken as correct.
They are official because they are fur
nished by the authorities of the vari-
GUS dioceses.
/ 1.-The Official Catholic Directory"
gives an interesting array Of figures,
and perhaps the most interesting are
those showing the Catholic population
of the various states in the Union.
The appended table shows the number
of Catholics in the twenty-five states
having the largest number:
New York, 2,778,076; Pennsylvania,
1,616,920; Illinois, 1,447,400; Massa-
/ o. T..