Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1914-04-25
Twenty-Four Million Under Pro-
lection of the Stars and
Stripes.
ParOchial Schools Are Educat-
ing Children Numbering
1,429,s59.
CATHOLIC DIRECTORY FIGURES

There are 16,067, 1856 Catholics in
the United States, according to the
advance sheets of the 1914 edition
OF The Official Catholic Directory.
published and copyrighted by p. J.
Kennedy & Sons, Barclay street. New
YORK. The 1914 edition will be
ready in a few days. The publishers
assert that the late appearance of
the volume was caused by the un-
usual delay in the reports of twenty
four archdioceses and dioceses. The
publishers also say that this delay
Will not occur again, as a new policy
Will be adopted as to the closing of
the forms. Hereafter certain
closing date will be announced, and
after that date no reports will be
accepted. Statistics of the preced-
Ing year will be reprinted in cases
where the reports are not on hand.
The most important feature of the
1914 volume is the new population
figure, showing as it does an Increase
OF 913,S27 Catholics for the year
1913. This increase, which amounts
to nearly million souls, is accord
ing to the directory editor, no exag-
geration, and is accounted for prin-
the Ruthenian-Greek Bishop. For
the first time all of the Ruthenian
Catholics are included in the CEN
sus. This remarkable increase of
913,S27 souls is shown despite the
fact that thirty-one dioceses made
no changes in the population figures,
and despite the fact that eight dio-
ceses show a decrease in the number
of Catholics over the 1912 reports.
According to Joseph H. Meier,
the editor of the Kennedy Directory,
who has been studying the popula-
ton figures for ten years, the total
lie, ,067, ,985-is a very low and a
very conservative figure. Accord
ing to Meier at least 10 per cent.
should be added for floating popula-
tion." The Official Catholic Direc-
tory for 1914 is replete with inter
esting figures. According to it's sum-
mary there are 1865 Catholic
priests in the United States, an in
crease of 623 for the year. Among
these 1865 clergymen there are
1854 priests of religious orders.
The new directory further shows
that 339 churches were established
in 1913, the total number of Cath
olic churches in this country being
1861. OF these 9,740 have resi-
dent pastors, and 4,911 are churches
attended from neighboring parishes.
The directory gives a list of
eighty-two seminaries, 1862 semin-
arians, 230 colleges for boys, $50
academies for girls and 5,403
parochial schools. In these 5,4O3
parochial schools 1,429,859 children
are receiving an education which will
fit them for the world and give them
the religious instruction which is so
necessary under present day condi-
tions. 1t must not be overlooked
that in addition to these 1,429,S59
parochial school children there are
also young men in colleges. acad-
emies and universities, young ladies'
In boarding schools and academies,
girls and boys In orphan asylums.
Adding all these IL will be found
that 1,669,391 young people are re-
ceiving Catholic instruction from
competent teachers.
The 1914 edition of this directory
also shows that there are 24,224,609
Catholics under the protection of the
Stars and Stripes. This figure is
derived by adding the Catholics in
Alaska, the Canal Zone, Guam, the
Hawaiian Islands. Porto Rico and
the Philippines to the total number
OF Catholics In the United States
proper. AS the population figures
are the most interesting the directory
editor has prepared for the Catholic
press list Of the twenty-five States
having the largest number of Cath
olics. The banner States are as fol-
lows: