The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-07-21
Catholic Indian Missions
INDIANS NOW SCATTERED ON
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES AND
DAY ScHOoLS-WoRk OF CATH
OLic INDIAN BUREAU.

What remains of the aboriginal pop
ulation of what is now the United
States is scattered over the land in
detached fragments, called reserva-.
lions, from Maine to California, writes
Right Reverend Charles Warren Cur
rier
The entire Indian population of to-
day is estimated at 2S4,097-exclusive
of Alaska-of which number about
100000 are Catholics, and about no.
600 pagans, the remainder belonging
to various Protestant denominations.
A very large portion of this Indian
population is of mixed blood.
In several dioceses there are few
scattered Catholic Indian families who
attend to their religious duties with
the rest of the faithful, and for whom
no special mission exists. There are
thirty dioceses having Indian missions,
if we include the work done by the.
parish priest at Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
for the Catholic population of the gov
eminent school, and the school of
Mother Katherine Drexel in the do
cese of Philadelphia.
With the exception of Philadelphia,
OgdenSburg where the st. Regis In
dams are located, and Portland with
the Passamaquoddys, all the other do
ceses are in the west, Detroit being
the most eastern. These missions are
attended to by 178 regular and ninety
nrsinC tc Will
and sixty-nine white catechists. The.
religious orders having charge of In
dian missions are Jesuits, Benedictines
Franciscans, Praemonstratensians and
Theatines.
In these various missions we have
Twenty-Five boarding schools for boys,
forty-tWo boarding schools for girls,
and twenty-siX day schools. These are
taught by Jesuits, Benedictines, Fran
ciscans, secular priests and Lammen-
nais Brothers among the men; and by
the Sisters of st. Ann, franciscan Sis
tiers, Sisters of Charity of Providence,
Sisters of st. Joseph, Benedictine.
Nuns, Gray Nuns, Sisters of Mercy,
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Ursu-
line Sisters, Sisters of Divine Provi-
dence, Dominican Sisters, Sisters of
Loretto and Sisters Of the Blessed Sac
rament. These schools are scattered
over a vast extent of territory, from
Michigan to California besides the
schools for, Indians in the dioceses of
Portland and Ogdensburg. In the In.
dian Territory there are three board
ing schools for boys, nine for girls, and
three day schools.
In 1914 the Bureau of Catholic In
dian missions provided for thirty-three
schools, twenty-five of which were sup.
ported from the allowance made to it
from the Indian and Negro Mission
Fund, from the donations of Mother
Katherine Drexel and from the money
raised through the Society for the
Preservation of the Faith among In
dian children. The amount paid out.
| by the Bureau from these three
sources must have aggregated $4,000.
Altogether, no less than 100000 was
expended in 1914 on Catholic Indian
| education, not counting the last named
schools. The Society for the Propaga-
| ton of the Faith made it's contribu-
| tons independently of the Bureau, and
| directly to individual schools.
| The Bureau also contributes toward
the support of the Cherokee Mission
in the Indian Territory, st. Ignatius
| Mission in Montana, and that of the
Sacred Heart Mission and boys board
ing school in Oklahoma Mother Kath-
crime supports at least six schools,
namely, one in Arizona, one in the In
dian Territory, one in New Mexico,
one in Oklahoma, one on the st. Regis
Reservation in New York, and one in
Washington State. The rest of the
schools are supported by public char
ity, by the Indians themselves, or by
the dioceses in which they are stu
ated.