Catholics in the United States

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 14, 8 April 1909, Page 529

Catholics in the United States

One of tho inanimate characters in Kipling's fablestory, A Bay's Work, laid down the principle that 'there is no sense in. telling too much truth.' As we pointed out at the time, some such idea seems to have motived the following cable message from New York which appeared in our daily papers of January 30: — ' Including those persons who are affiliated by family ties to members, whether they belong to the organisation or not, the census gives the Roman Catholic Church of tlfe United States a total of 22,474,440. This total, which ' includes the Philippines and other * islands under the American flag, gives 14,235,451 as the number in the United States proper. Mr. Srnalley, the New York correspondent of the Times, says that these statistics aro useless for purposes of comparison, inasmuch as all other Churches enumerate the actual members of the Churches.' The following is the substance of the same item of ' news ' as given more fully by the New York correspondent of the London Times, in its issue of January 28: — ' What is called a Roman Catholic census of the United States, compiled from advance sheets of the official Roman Catholic Directory, is published to-day. It shows that the number of Roman Catholics in the country is. 14,235,451. . . These figures are impressive, but they ought not to be used for purposes of comparison with those of other denominations, especially in America. Roman Catholic statisticians, in compiling the numerical strength of the Church, do not, as those of other religious bodies do, confine their enumeration to actual membership. In the case of members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, for instance, who number only 830,659 . . . the inclusion of persons affiliated to. that body by family ties would double that number of adherents. All such persons are included in the statistics of the 1 Roman Catholic Church, whether they belong to the organisation or not, and the entire population of the so-called Roman Catholic countries swells the total.' So runneth the statistical tale told- to the ends of the earth by the Times. Now mark how plain a tale will put it down. The learned Archbishop of St. Paul (Dr. Ireland) tells the facts of the case in the Times of February 13. 'I am,' says he in part, 'writing of the United States/ and there I know for certain only such persons are included in the Roman Catholic census as make personal profession of the Catholic faith; and persons merely affiliated to the Church by family ties (if mere family ties may in any manner be said to constitute an affiliation) are not included in the figures given -out

by the' Directory. The figures given oxit by the Directory, it should at once be remarked, are not of the Directory's own finding. They are those furnished by the Most Rev. Archbishop of St. Louis to the National Bureau of the Census at Washington, under instructions received from the National Bureau itself.' Archbishop Ireland their went on to explain that the laws of the United States 'do not authorise the questioning as to the religious belief of the citizen in the taking of the. regular census of the population. The Bureau, however, is encouraged to obtain a religious census by such indirect means as may seem practicable and effective.' They usually have recourse to ' the religious bodies themselves, and to such agencies as they severally may recommend. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, it was agreed between Mr. S. N. D. North, director of the National Bureau, and the body of the Archbishops, that the Metropolitan of St. Louis should have the matter in hand, and, by putting himself into communication with every Bishox) and every parish priest, obtain for the Bureau an exact estimate of the Roman Catholic population, so far as this was possible, upon .such basis and through suoli calculations as Mr. North himself had previously approved.'

The Archbishop of St. Paul then proceeds to switch -the electric light on to the statistical fiction of the Times correspondent. He quotes as follows the basis of calculation approved by Mr. North : ' Those shall be reckoned as Catholics who, baptised in the Church, whether in their infancy or in their later years, still profess to be Catholics — not having, since their baptism, withdrawn from the Church, cither by open act of apostasy or by conduct impliedry tantamount to a renunciation of the Catholic faith — mere infrequency, however, in attendance at Mass or at the Sacraments not constituting such renunciation. 1 Actual initiation into tho Church by baptism,' adds Archbishop Ireland, ' and subsequent personal profession of tho Catholic faith, alone constitute membership in th>j Catholic Church, and only such persons as come under tho^e conditions are comprised in the figures of the recent Roman Catholic census. Never would it have entered into the mind of a Catholic acquainted with his catechism to imagine that a mere vicarious profession of faith through the agency of friends or relatives, constitutes r> Catholic; never did it enter into the minds of bishops or priests contributing to the Roman Catholic census to mark down as a Catholic one who would claim only such vicarious affiliation. In families where some members profess the Catholic faith, where others are Protestants, or profess no religious faith whatever, only those who personally profess the Catholic faith — few or many as they may relatively have been — were remembered as Catholics.'

Thus goes to the wall another ' Fairy-tale of a far-off land.'

Another matter, however, remains to be stated Tho figures of the Catholic population of the United States given above (14,235,451) were provisional and incomplete. It is my personal opinion,' said Archbishop Ireland in his letter to the Tunes, 'that those figures are too low. To represent fully the reality, I believe they should not be under 16 or even 17 millions. Three or four dioceses—among which is to be found one of the most populous dioceses in the country— sent no report to the Metropolitan of St. Louis, so that he was obliged to credit them with only the figures printed in older numbers of the Directory. In the reports of some other dioceses no adequate allowance, it seems to me, was made of the masses vL ne Vl'V 1 ' I>lVe i lmm . l g ran t s » especially those of Oriental rites Throughout too, I could read vestiges of older habits of some parish priests to claim as Catholics only those who are pew-holders or regular contributors to church funds ' But, even as they stand, the figures give a minimum Catholic population of 22,474,440 living under the star-spangled banner. In this connection we may appropriately quote from a statement made by Archbishop Glennon, of St. Louis, to Pope Pius X. on December 12 of the past year. 'Our results,' said the Archbishon 'show about 14,000,000, from, which 15 pn- cettlifole deducted tn. the printed reports to allow for children under a certain, age, who are not counted. But I had to explain to the Pope that while these are the figures recorded in the official count, a great deal of supplementary information convinces me that the actual nvmher of Catholics L the United States Is not short of 18 000 000 ' VCUJloitcs m