An Irish Catholic Diocese in the United States

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 39, 5 October 1922, Page 7

An Irish Catholic Diocese in the United States

After Cologne the most populous diocese in .the Oath. olic Church is the archdiocese of New York, which has not inaptly been called by a writer “an Irish Catholic diocese.” It well may bear the name with its 1145 priests (731 seculars and 414 regulars) and its Catholic .population of 1,473,291, all of whom, with the exception of Germans and Italians, belong to the O’s and the Mac’s. Here one sees largely represented “the greater Ireland beyond the seas,” for with Chicago and San Francisco, New York has been the cradle of every - movement organised for the people “at home” these 50 years. With no small degree of interest does an Irish visitor find that in this small world night schools are running for the teaching of the Gaelic language, and a quarterly magazine in the same language is in circulation. From New York, as soon as things settle down in Ireland, many persons of Irish blood will go to reside permanently in “the old country.” Their help in establishing commercial relations between the United States and Ireland will be invaluable; especially since the United Irish Steamship Lines have joined heartily in the industrial revival among the Irish people. Like all successful dioceses, New York is cne of intensive organisation. The sight on Sunday, July 9, of 2300 Post Office officials being enrolled in the New' York Post Office Holy Name Society was a rather inspiring one, almost as inspiring as that of 3000, members of the Metropolitan Police Force receiving Holy Communion en masse on the previous Sunday.