ROMAN CATHOLIC POPULATION OF THE EMPIRE..

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1681, 22 February 1913, Page 9

ROMAN CATHOLIC POPULATION OF THE EMPIRE..

The "Tablet" (London) states:—ln llio 1913 "Catholic Directory," .Mgr. Jackman provides, us ouce uioro witn tho offi. cial audit of_ the Catliolic iorces of tlio kingdom. This year the editor is to bo on furnishing, for tho first time, something iiko accurate; Statistics of tho Catholic population of tho Umpire, allowjng us' ftt last to measure tho importance of the position of .that .'Empire. iu Catholic Christendom.- [ Tlio collation of the figures yielded by the census of 1911 (tho Canadian census returns canio in at tho last moment' on December 18) enable Mgr. Jackman to arrive at, a grand total just falling below tliirketi' million of citizens. Of these, British Europe comes first with 5,800,008, followed by Canada.with..2,B24,ooo. .In regard to the Canadian figures,' it is to be, noted tl'at tho official ccnsus only took cognisance of French and British Catholics j whereas tho Catholio population of Canada is not limited to these nationalities— in tho North-West Territories, for example, whero tho Catholio Entheninn» have now a bishop of their own. Itemom- ' bering that 1 , tho total - population of Candd4;;i»'tinder-. six million; w<» -renew tho enthusiasm inspired by Cardinal Bourne'* Norwich address, in which ho was moved to dwell oil the richness of tho Canadian harvest and to foretell the part to bs played >by Canada in tho restoration o£ tho British Empire to Catholio unity. As confirming 6omo other remarks of his Eminence on that occasion, wo. may nota that ■ tlio biggest Catholio increase Binco the Inst - decennial . returns is < found in Saskatchewan, which has 401,000' mors Catholics, while tho .total increase m Catholics of British origin is fixed -at '830,400, and of French at 406,150. ■ Next ; to; Canada comos Asia, with its grand total of ■ 2,288,000, Australasia stl|jpJyiuß 1,184,000, and Africa 499,000. Turning to Homo statistics, wo find that tho number of priests in Great Britain now etands at 4101—a diminution of 148 on tlio total of a twelvemonth ago. The incidence of this decrease is almost wholly on tho side of tho regular clergy, who are fewer by, 132 mainly because of tho return of a number of foreign exiles in Portsmouth diocese. That wo arc not standing still as_ regards personnel is shown; by an aduition of twenty seculars. As regards materiel, tlio number of churches, chapels, and stations in Great Britain remains stationary, tho return for Plymouth showing a decrease df eighteen, and Northampton of two. Hexham-and-Newcastlo, on. tho otlier hand, ha 9 put on eleven, and Westminster six. Birmingham has added four, and Liverpool and Salford two apiece, whilo Portsmouth, Clifton, Shrewsbury, Monovia, Leeds, and Middlesbrough are all ahead by one. Nottingham and Southwark remain as they were.