Roman Catholicism in the United States 410868 224962382 2008-07-11T05:34:31Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other '''[[Roman Catholicism]] in the [[United States]]''' has grown dramatically over the country's history, from being a tiny minority faith during the time of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] to being the country's largest profession of faith today. With 76.9 million residents professing the faith in 2003, the [[United States]] has the third largest Catholic population in the world after [[Brazil]] and [[Mexico]]. As of 2001, approximately 24.5% of Americans identified themselves as Roman Catholic; this accounts for roughly 32% of American Christians.<ref name="Kosmin">{{cite paper | author = Kosmin et al. | title = American Religious Identification Survey, 2001 | date = 2001 | url = http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris.pdf | format = [[PDF]] | accessdate = 2008-04-17 }}</ref> The 2008 [[Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches]], a statistical listing of major religious bodies published by [[National Council of Churches]], reports 67,515,016 registered members of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. The next largest Christian denomination, the [[Southern Baptist Convention]], reported only 16,306,246. The church's leadership body in the United States is the [[U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]], made up of the [[hierarchy]] of [[bishop]]s and [[archbishop]]s of the [[United States]] and the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], although each bishop is independent in his own [[diocese]], answerable only to the [[Pope]]. No [[Primate (religion)|primate]] for Catholics exists in the United States. The [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore|Archdiocese of Baltimore]], the first [[diocese]] established in the country, received ''Prerogative of Place'' in the 1850s, which confers to [[Roman Catholic Bishop of Baltimore|its archbishop]] a subset of the [[leadership]] responsibilities granted to primates in other countries. == History == [[Image:Stjohncantius.JPG|thumb|200px|left|[[St. John Cantius in Chicago|St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church]], one of [[Chicago]]'s '[[Polish Cathedral]]s'. ]] Catholicism first came to the territories now forming the United States before the [[Protestant Reformation]] with the [[Spain|Spanish]] explorers and settlers in present-day [[Florida]] (1513) and the [[southwest United States|southwest]]. The first Christian worship service held in the current United States was a Catholic Mass celebrated in Pensacola, FL.(St. Michael records) The influence of the [[Spanish Missions of California|Alta California missions]] (1769 and onwards) forms a lasting memorial to part of this heritage. In the English colonies, Catholicism was introduced with the settling of [[Maryland]] in 1634; this colony offered a rare example of [[religious toleration]] in a fairly intolerant age, particularly amongst other English colonies which frequently exhibited a quite militant [[Protestantism]]. (See the [[Maryland Toleration Act]], and note the pre-eminence of the Archdiocese of [[Baltimore]] in Catholic circles.) However, at the time of the [[American Revolution]], Catholics formed less than 1% of the population of the thirteen colonies. The main source of Roman Catholics in the United States was the huge numbers of European [[Immigration|immigrants]] of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These huge numbers of immigrant Catholics came from [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], Southern [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[Poland]] and [[Eastern Europe]]. Substantial numbers of Catholics also came from [[French Canadian|French Canada]] during the mid-19th century and settled in [[New England]]. Since then, there has been cross-fertilization of the Catholic population as members of historically Catholic groups converted to various [[Protestant]] faiths, and vice-versa, with Catholics of (usually partial) [[English people|English]], [[Scottish people|Scottish]], north German, [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]], or [[Swedish people|Swedish]] descent not uncommon. In the latter half of the 19th century, the first attempt at standardizing discipline in the American Church occurred with the convocation of the [[Plenary Councils of Baltimore]]. These councils resulted in the [[Baltimore Catechism]] and the establishment of the [[Catholic University of America]]. Modern Catholic immigrants come to the United States from the [[Philippines]] and [[Latin America]], especially from [[Mexico]]. This [[multiculturalism]] and diversity has greatly impacted the flavor of Catholicism in the United States. For example, many dioceses serve the faithful in both the [[English language]] and the [[Spanish language]]. Also, when many parishes were set up in the United States, separate churches were built for parishioners from Ireland, Germany, Italy, etc. In [[Iowa]], the development of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque|Archdiocese of Dubuque]], the work of [[Mathias Loras|Bishop Loras]] and the building of [[St. Raphael's Cathedral (Dubuque)|St. Raphael's Cathedral]] illustrate this point. Some anti-immigrant and [[Nativism (politics)|nativism]] movements, like the [[Know Nothings]] and the [[Ku Klux Klan]], have also been [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]]. Indeed for most of the history of the United States, Catholics have been persecuted. It was not until the Presidency of [[John F. Kennedy]] that Catholics lived in the U.S. free of scrutiny. The [[Ku Klux Klan]] ridden South discriminated against Catholics for their commonly Irish, Italian, Polish, or Spanish ethnicity, and the "righteous", Protestant North and Midwest labeled all Catholics as anti-American "[[Papist]]s", incapable of free thought without the approval of their heir to St. Peter. This was done to keep "mongrel Catholic peoples" from having further success in their rapid assimilation into American society. It is during these times that Protestants gave Catholics some of their more disturbing nicknames like "paddy", "mick", and "dunkey" for the Irish, or "guinea", "wop", and "dago" for Italians. == Dioceses == *[[List of the Roman Catholic bishops of the United States|US Catholic Bishops]] *[[List of the Roman Catholic cathedrals of the United States|US Catholic Cathedrals]] *[[List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of the United States|US Catholic Dioceses]] == Statistics == [[Image:Gerald Farinas Holy Name Cathedral from Street.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]]'s [[Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago|Holy Name Cathedral]] is the mother church of one of the largest Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States.]] Over 19,000 parishes exist in 195 dioceses or archdioceses: * 146 Latin Catholic Dioceses * 2 Eastern Catholic Archdioceses or Archeparchies * 15 Eastern Catholic Dioceses or Eparchies This gives the Catholic Church the third highest total number of churches in the U.S., behind Southern Baptists and Methodists. However, because the average Catholic parish is significantly larger than the average church from those denominations, there are about 3 times as many Catholics as Southern Baptists and almost 5 times as many as Methodists. The Church has over 30,000 diocesan priests, and over 15,000 priests vowed to a specific order; also over 30,000 lay ministers, 13,000 deacons, 75,000 sisters, and 5,600 brothers. 150,000 [[Catholic school]] teachers operate in the United States, teaching 2.7 million students. There are about 60-70 million people in the United States who were baptized as Catholics, or roughly 26% of the U.S. population. [http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_romcath.html] Today the Catholic Church in America has 69,135,254 members by the Official Catholic Directory 2006. As of 2002, a Pew Research poll found that roughly 24% of the adult U.S. population self-identifies as Catholic. [http://pewforum.org/publications/reports/poll2002.pdf]. Other estimates from recent years generally range around 20% to 28%. Catholics in the U.S. are about 6% of the church's total worldwide membership. A poll by The Barna Group in 2004 found Catholic ethnicity to be 60% non-Hispanic white (commonly called [[Caucasian race|Caucasian]]), 31% [[Hispanic]] of any race, 4% [[Black (people)|Black]], and 5% other ethnicity (mostly [[Filipino American|Filipino]]s and other [[Asian American]]s). [http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=15] [[As of 2006]] of 195 dioceses, seven are vacant, two for more than 18 months. Another 14 bishops, including two [[cardinal (catholicism)|cardinals]], are past the retirement age of 75. == Roman Catholicism by State == ===By Percentage of Catholics=== [[Image:Religions of the US.PNG|thumb|400px|[[Plurality]] of religious preference by state, 2001. Catholicism is also largest sect in the No Religion plurality states and [[Hawaii]].]] {| class="wikitable" |- !Rank!!State!!%!!Largest<br>Sect |- |align="center"|1||[[New Mexico]]||align="center"|84||rowspan="11" align="center" |[[Roman Catholic Church|Roman<br>Catholic]] |- |align="center"|2||[[Rhode Island]]||align="center"|63 |- |align="center"|3||[[Massachusetts]]||align="center"|47 |- |align="center" rowspan='2'|4||[[New Jersey]]||align="center" rowspan='2'|39 |- |[[Vermont]] |- |align="center"|6||[[New York]]||align="center"|38 |- |align="center"|7||[[New Hampshire]]||align="center"|35 |- |align="center" rowspan='2'|8||[[California]]||align="center" rowspan='2'|34 |- |[[Connecticut]] |- |align="center"|10||[[Arizona]]||align="center"|31 |- |align="center" rowspan='3'|11||[[Illinois]]||align="center" rowspan='3'|30 |- |[[Louisiana]]||align="center" |[[Baptist]] |- |[[North Dakota]]||align="center" |[[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] |- |align="center" rowspan='2'|14||[[Texas]]||align="center" rowspan='2'|29||rowspan="7" align="center" |Roman<br>Catholic |- |[[Wisconsin]] |- |align="center"|16||[[Nebraska]]||align="center"|28 |- |align="center"|17||[[Pennsylvania]]||align="center"|27 |- |align="center"|18||[[Florida]]||align="center"|26 |- |align="center" rowspan='3'|19||[[Maine]]||align="center" rowspan='3'|25 |- |[[Minnesota]] |- |[[South Dakota]]||align="center" |Lutheran |- |align="center" rowspan='4'|22||[[Colorado]]||align="center" rowspan='4'|24||rowspan="15" align="center" |Roman<br>Catholic |- |[[Hawaii]] |- |[[Montana]] |- |[[Nevada]] |- |align="center" rowspan='3'|26||[[Iowa]]||align="center" rowspan='3'|23 |- |[[Maryland]] |- |[[Michigan]] |- |align="center"|29||[[Washington]]||align="center"|22 |- |align="center" rowspan='3'|30||[[Indiana]]||align="center" rowspan='3'|20 |- |[[Kansas]] |- |[[Missouri]] |- |align="center"|33||[[Ohio]]||align="center"|19 |- |align="center"|34||[[Wyoming]]||align="center"|18 |- |align="center" rowspan='3'|35||[[Idaho]]||align="center" rowspan='3'|15 |- |[[Oregon]] |- |[[Kentucky]]||rowspan="3" align="center" |Baptist |- |align="center"|38||[[Virginia]]||align="center"|14 |- |align="center"|39||[[Alabama]]||align="center"|13 |- |align="center" rowspan='2'|40||[[Delaware]]||align="center" rowspan='2'|10||align="center" |[[Methodism|Methodist]] |- |[[North Carolina]]||rowspan="7" align="center" |Baptist |- |align="center"|42||[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]||align="center"|8 |- |align="center" rowspan='6'|43||[[Alaska]]||align="center" rowspan='6'|7 |- |[[Arkansas]] |- |[[Oklahoma]] |- |[[South Carolina]] |- |[[Tennessee]] |- |[[Utah]]||align="center" |[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LDS]] |- |align="center" |49||[[West Virginia]]||align="center"|5||rowspan="2" align="center" bgcolor=#FFFFFF|Baptist |- |align="center"|50||[[Mississippi]]||align="center"|4 |} <ref>See each state's Religious Demographic section</ref> ===By Number of Catholics=== {| class="wikitable" |- !Rank!!State!!Number of Catholics (est.)!!No. of Dioceses/Archdioceses |- |align="center"|1||align="center"|California||align="center"|11,516,360||align="center"|15<!--12 Latin, 3 Eastern --> |- |align="center"|2||align="center"|New York||align="center"|7,445,442||align="center"|10 <!--8 Latin, 2 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|3||align="center"|Texas||align="center"|6,047,027||align="center"|15 |- |align="center"|4||align="center"|Illinois||align="center"|3,849,591||align="center"|7<!--5 Latin, 2 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|5||align="center"|Pennsylvania||align="center"|3,315,884||align="center"|10<!--8 Latin, 2 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|6||align="center"|New Jersey||align="center"|3,225,632||align="center"|7<!--5 Latin, 2 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|7||align="center"|Massachusetts||align="center"|2,984,076||align="center"|5<!--4 Latin, 1 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|8||align="center"|Florida||align="center"|2,316,652||align="center"|7 |- |align="center"|9||align="center"|Michigan||align="center"|2,285,842||align="center"|8<!--7 Latin, 1 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|10||align="center"|Ohio||align="center"|2,157,097||align="center"|9<!--6 Latin, 3 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|11||align="center"|New Mexico||align="center"|1,591,711||align="center"|3 |- |align="center"|12||align="center"|Arizona||align="center"|1,590,496||align="center"|4 |- |align="center"|13||align="center"|Wisconsin||align="center"|1,555,466||align="center"|5 |- |align="center"|14||align="center"|Louisiana||align="center"|1,357,088||align="center"|6 |- |align="center"|15||align="center"|Connecticut||align="center"|1,333,044||align="center"|4<!--3 Latin, 1 Eastern--> |- |align="center"|16||align="center"|Washington||align="center"|1,296,707||align="center"|3 |- |align="center"|17||align="center"|Maryland||align="center"|1,288,089||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|18||align="center"|Minnesota||align="center"|1,229,870||align="center"|6 |- |align="center"|19||align="center"|Indiana||align="center"|1,216,097||align="center"|5 |- |align="center"|20||align="center"|Missouri||align="center"|1,119,042||align="center"|4 |- |align="center"|21||align="center"|Virginia||align="center"|1,059,445||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|22||align="center"|Colorado||align="center"|1,032,303||align="center"|3 |- |align="center"|23||align="center"|Rhode Island||align="center"|679,275||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|24||align="center"|Iowa||align="center"|673,055||align="center"|4 |- |align="center"|25||align="center"|Kentucky||align="center"|626,011||align="center"|4 |- |align="center"|26||align="center"|Kansas||align="center"|537,683||align="center"|4 |- |align="center"|27||align="center"|Oregon||align="center"|513,210||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|28||align="center"|Nebraska||align="center"|479,154||align="center"|3 |- |align="center"|29||align="center"|Nevada||align="center"|477,182||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|30||align="center"|Georgia||align="center"|447,126||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|31||align="center"|New Hampshire||align="center"|327,353||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|32||align="center"|North Carolina||align="center"|319,492||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|33||align="center"|Hawaii||align="center"|290,769||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|34||align="center"|Maine||align="center"|217,767||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|35||align="center"|Montana||align="center"|216,526||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|36||align="center"|Idaho||align="center"|194,093||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|37||align="center"|North Dakota||align="center"|192,660||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|38||align="center"|South Dakota||align="center"|188,711||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|39||align="center"|Tennessee||align="center"|187,378||align="center"|3 |- |align="center"|40||align="center"|South Carolina||align="center"|183,356||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|41||align="center"|Oklahoma||align="center"|160,082||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|42||align="center"|Utah||align="center"|156,322||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|43||align="center"|Vermont||align="center"|149,154||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|44||align="center"|Alabama||align="center"|140,365||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|45||align="center"|Mississippi||align="center"|124,150||align="center"|2 |- |align="center"|46||align="center"|Arkansas||align="center"|106,051||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|47||align="center"|Wyoming||align="center"|100,614||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|48||align="center"|West Virginia||align="center"|90,417||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|49||align="center"|Delaware||align="center"|78,360||align="center"|1 |- |align="center"|50||align="center"|Alaska||align="center"|43,885||align="center"|3 |} <ref>See each state's Religious Demographic section</ref> {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[Catholicism and American politics]] ==Additional reading== *Fogarty, Gerald P. ''Commonwealth Catholicism: A History of the Catholic Church in Virginia'', ISBN 978-0268022648. ==External links == *[http://www.earthhealing.info/catholicstats.pdf Global Catholic Statistics: 1905 and Today] by Albert J. Fritsch, SJ, PhD *[http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html Largest Religious Groups in the United States of America] {{North America in topic|Roman Catholicism in}} {{Demographics of the United States}} [[Category:Christianity in the United States]] [[Category:Christian denominations of North America]] [[Category:Roman Catholicism in the United States|*]] [[de:Römisch-katholische Kirche in den Vereinigten Staaten]] [[es:Iglesia Católica en los Estados Unidos]] [[ko:미국의 가톨릭]] [[it:Chiesa cattolica negli Stati Uniti d'America]] [[pt:Catolicismo apostólico romano nos Estados Unidos da América]]