The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-03-22

HOOES-CATHOLlC POPULA-
TLoN IN TWENTY-FIVE STATES.
According to the advance sheets of
the 1913 edition of The Official Cath
olic Directory" published by P. ].
Kennedy & Sons of Barclay street, New
York, there are 15,I54, ,15S Catholics in
the United States. This figure in
cludes only the Catholics of the United
States proper and does not embrace
the people of our faith in the foreign
possessions of this country.
The Catholic population for this year
shows an increase of only 1885 over
the figures for 1912. This increase
will not satisfy many; but, as mat
ter of information, the publishers
state that the Catholic population fig
ures are printed in the Directory just
as they are furnished by the diocesan
officials. Perhaps, in fairness, how
ever it ought to be mentioned that in
thirty-fiNe Diooeses no changes We're
made in the population figures. In six
cases where changes were made the
revision was downward, one Diocese
reducing its population figure by $4,000,
another by 10000, while third cut OF
10,620 The three other reductions
were only slight 1t is impossible in
all districts to take an annual census
and in numerous Dioceses the census
is taken every five years. In two or
three American Dioceses the figures
are changed only every ten years.
Adding the 7,I31,989 Catholics in
the Philippines, the million or more
in Porto Rico, the 11,510 in Alaska,
the 42,10S in the Hawaiian Islands and
the 900 on the Canal Zone, it will be
found that there are 23,329,047 Catho-
lies under the stars and stripes.
The Directory for 1913 is now in
the hands of the binders and Messrs.
Kennedy & Sons expect to commence
delivery in a few days. The delay in
the appearance of 1918 issue cannot
be charged to them for some of the
most important reports were not re-
ceived until after the middle of Febru
airy. Over a month must elapse after
the final proofs are received before
the Directory can be turned over to
the binders. :
interesting Statistics.
The Oficial Catholic Directory is
full of interesting figures and accord
ing to the 1913 issue new Catholic
church is built every day in the year.
There were 373 new churches estab-
lished during 1912, some Of them, OF
course, being only mission churches.
To be exact, there are 244 new churches
with resident pastors and 129 new
mission churches, that is, served by a
neighboriRg pastor. All told there are
1892 churches in the United States,
9,5O1 having resident pastors.
According to the Catholic Directory
there are 17,945 Catholic clergymen
in the United States, 1928 being
secular clergy and 4,672 being mem
bers of Religious Orders. In addition
to the 17,945 priests, there are, also,
hundreds of Fathers in distant lands;
in fact, there is hardly civilized or
uncivilized land where United States
clergy are not to be found. Only a
few days ago a United States priest
sailed from New York for the Island
of Timor, an island away out in the
Indian ocean, inhabited by semi-bar-
barous Malays and Papuas.
In addition to the 17,945 clergymen
engaged in the United States there
are 6,169 men and youths studying in
S5 seminaries, located in various parts
of the country.
There are also 230 colleges and
academies for boys and 6S4 academies
for girls, where the higher education OF
our Catholic youth is given serious at
tention. The number of academies for
girls, is of course, larger than the
number of colleges for men and boys
but the number of men and boy stu
dents is much larger than girl stu.
dents.
Parochial School Attendance.
One of the features of the Directory
which will give food for thought is
the table giving the statistics of the
parochial schools. According to the
figures which have been supplied by
the Diocesan Chancery officials there
are 5,256 parishes which have paro
chial schools connected with the
churches. In these 5,256 schools
1,960,761 boys and girls are receiving
their elementary education. Further.
more it must be borne in mind that
in many rural districts, where paro-
chial schools cannot be organized, due
provision is made for the religious in.
struction of youth. With this in mind
the fact that 1,36O,761 children are
attending the parochial schools will
stand out more sharply.
1t must also be remembered that
there are 47,415 orphans in our orphan