Growth of the Church in America

New Zealand Tablet, 4 January 1912, Page 11

Growth of the Church in America

In the course of his : sermon in the Cathedral, Balti- ? more, on X the' first " Sunday of October," his Eminence , Cardinal Gibbons, gave public expression to his grate- v ul. appreciation of the civic ? celebration held in : his honor during the summer, and referred to, the religious festivities which were to be held during the week beginning October 15. He made a comparison of the conditions of the Church at the beginning of his' career and at the present time. In the course of this historical resume he said: ~ * ~" : r'r:.~ -i : :h All the priests that were ordained for this diocese with me, and before my time, have long since passed away, and all my. Episcopal brethren with whom I began to labor after my consecration, 43 years ago, have gone to their reward, with one solitary; exception, and that exception is the venerable Bishop of Kansas City. Though I value the -friendship of my junior colleagues, I feel a sense of loneliness in the absence of my old ' companions with whom I sat so often in the : council and with whom I labored so long in the vineyard of the Lord. A, 'At the close of the Third Plenary.-Council,-'in 1884, the patriarchal Archbishop of St. Louis, addressing me in the name of his colleagues/ remarked that when Xerxes, the Persian leader, beheld over a million of soldiers standing before him in martial'array, he shed tears; on reflecting that in : « 100 years this grand army would have perished from the face of the earth. ."And in fifty years," the Archbishop added, " all the prelates assembled in this ; Cathedral" shall have paid the debt of nature." -" * "• ' _ '"That is true," I replied, "but thank God, we are immortal, for the present life is but /the prelude of that which is to come, and we/shall meet again in the temple of which God Himself is the architect, for/

we know that if this our earthly habitation is dissolved, we ; have a ; house of God, not made with hands,; eternal in the heavens." ;- " - ;; ' Of; the 72 prelates who attended the Council of : 1884 all but nine have paid - the debt of nature. .■■: It may be interesting as well as consoling to : institute a comparison between' the Church of 1861 and its present situation after half a century. ' '- United States numbered 48. The 1 priests were : 2064. The number; of ;. churches with priests attached was 2042, and the Catholic , population was* estimated at 1,860,000. v ;. ' ■;■ ■• ■ ' The number of Archbishops and Bishops to-day in charge of Sees amounts to 96, twice as many as existed in 1861. The priests amount to 17,000, an increase .- of more than eight-fold. There are 13,500 churches, nearly a seven-fold increase. We have about 15,000,000 Church members, eight • times as many as existed in the United States in 1861. ■ r ]^//.';-:-. "-.' But the progress.of religion in our country is to be estimated not only by the augmentation of ; the number of its communicants but also by a more efficient' co-ordination and discipline. The clergy, in 1861, were as detached squadrons compared to the compact and , marshalled army of to-day. '■■-.-. ' r ' Half c a century ago the prelates / and \ clergy labored under.many adverse circumstances.- In widely extended parts .of the country they had to minister to the faithful scattered over a; vast expanse of territory, without .- organised ; "parishes, often ' without churches wherein to worship, and without Catholic schools. .; They had ' but >. scant resources to* sustain them. : Frequently they had to contend with deep-rooted-prejudices/;:: v£ .;/. .' Now, thank" God, we have in -most places parishes well organised. Churches have v multiplied from the : Atlantic to the Pacific. Parochial schools have become the rule instead of the exception in the large, centres

of population. A generous laity are usually able and always willing to aid our missionaries. An unfriendly feeling still exists in some quarters,, as a result of longstanding traditions and a biassed education. But the mists of prejudice are gradually disappearing before the; sunlight of truth.’