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'{{short description|The largest American religious denomination}} {{Infobox Christian denomination | icon = Emblem_of_the_Papacy_SE.svg | icon_width = 25px | icon_alt = | name = American Catholic Church{{br}} | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington.jpg | imagewidth = 200px | alt = | caption = The [[Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception]], in [[Washington, D.C.]], is the largest enclosed [[church (building)|church building]] in the world | abbreviation = | type = [[National polity]] | main_classification = [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] | orientation = [[Christianity]] | scripture = [[Catholic bible|Bible]] | theology = [[Catholic theology]] | polity = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]] | governance = [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] ([[Latin Church]]) | structure = | leader_title = [[Pope]] | leader_name = [[Pope Francis]] | leader_title1 = [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops|USCCB President]] | leader_name1 = [[José Horacio Gómez]] | leader_title2 = [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore|''Prerogative of Place'']] | leader_name2 = [[William E. Lori]] | leader_title3 = [[Apostolic Nunciature to the United States|Apostolic Nuncio]] | leader_name3 = [[Christophe Pierre]] | fellowships_type = | fellowships = | fellowships_type1 = | fellowships1 = | division_type = | division = | division_type1 = | division1 = | division_type2 = | division2 = | division_type3 = | division3 = | associations = | area = [[United States]], [[Puerto Rico]], and other [[territories of the United States]] | language = [[English language|English]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[French language|French]], [[Latin language|Latin]] | headquarters = | origin_link = | founder = [[John Carroll (bishop)|John Carroll]] | founded_date = 1789 | founded_place = [[Baltimore]], [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], [[Thirteen Colonies]] | separated_from = | branched_from = [[Catholic Church in England and Wales]] | parent = | merger = | absorbed = | separations = | merged_into = | defunct = | congregations_type = | congregations = 17,156<ref name="cara.georgetown.edu">{{cite web|url=http://cara.georgetown.edu/frequently-requested-church-statistics/|title=CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH IN THE APOSTOLATE (CARA), Georgetown University > Frequently Requested Church Statistics > Parishes|website=cara.georgetown.edu/frequently-requested-church-statistics/}}</ref> | members = 70,412,021 (2017) | ministers_type = | ministers = | missionaries = | churches = | hospitals = | nursing_homes = | aid = | primary_schools = | secondary_schools = | tax_status = | tertiary = | other_names = | publications = | website = [http://www.usccb.org/ usccb.org] | slogan = | logo = | footnotes = }} {{Catholic Church by country}} The '''American Catholic Church''', or '''Catholic Church in the United States''', is composed of ecclesiastical communities in [[Communion (religion)|full communion]] with the [[Holy See]]. With 23% of the United States population {{as of|2018|lc=y}}, the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after [[Protestantism in the United States|Protestantism]], and the country's largest church or religious [[Christian denomination|denomination]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|language=en|access-date=September 27, 2018}}</ref> The United States has the fourth largest [[Catholic Church by country|Catholic population in the world]], after [[Catholic Church in Brazil|Brazil]], [[Catholic Church in Mexico|Mexico]] and the [[Catholic Church in the Philippines|Philippines]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/requestedchurchstats.html|title=Catholic Data, Catholic Statistics, Catholic Research|website=cara.georgetown.edu}}</ref> In the colonial era, Spain and Mexico (Mexico, after 1821)<ref>Alan Taylor, ''American Colonies'' (New York: Viking, 2001) 465.</ref> established missions (1769-1833) that had permanent results in New Mexico and California ([[Spanish missions in California]]). Likewise, France founded settlements with missions attached to them in the Mississippi River region, notably, [[St. Louis]] (1764) and [[New Orleans]] (1718). [[English people|English]] Catholics, on the other hand, "harassed in England by the Protestant majority,"<ref>Taylor, 137</ref> settled in Maryland (1634) and founded the first state capitol, [[St. Mary's City, Maryland]].<ref>Taylor, 137.</ref><ref> Richard Middleton, ''Colonial America: A History, 1565-1776'' (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002) 95.</ref> In 1789, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore|Archdiocese of Baltimore]] was the first diocese in the newly independent nation. [[John Carroll (bishop)|John Carroll]] became the first American bishop. His brother [[Daniel Carroll]] was the leading Catholic among the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]. George Washington in the army and as president set a standard for religious toleration. No religious test was allowed for holding national office, and colonial legal restrictions on Catholics holding office were gradually abolished by the States. However, in the mid-19th century there was political [[anti-Catholicism in the United States]], sponsored by pietistic Protestants fearful of the pope. In the 20th century anti-Catholicism seldom appeared except when a Catholic was running for president as in 1928 and 1960. The number of Catholics grew rapidly in the 19th century through high fertility and immigration, especially from [[Irish Americans|Ireland]], [[German Americans|Germany]], and after 1880, [[Eastern Europe]] and [[Italian Americans|Italy]]. Large scale Catholic immigration from [[Mexico]] began after 1910 and in 2019 Latinos comprise 37 percent of American Catholics. By 1900, it was the largest denomination. [[Parish]]es set up [[parochial school]]s, and hundreds of colleges and universities were established by Catholic religious orders, notably by the [[Jesuits]], who founded 28 such schools of higher education. [[Nun]]s were very active in teaching and hospital work. Since 1960, the percentage of Americans who are Catholic has fallen slowly from about 25% to 22%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.adw.org/2010/12/is-the-bottom-really-falling-out-of-catholic-mass-attendance-a-recent-cara-survey-ponders-the-question/|title=Is the Bottom Really Falling Out of Catholic Mass Attendance? A Recent CARA Survey Ponders the Question – Community in Mission|date=15 December 2010}}</ref> In absolute numbers, Catholics have increased from 45 million to 72 million. {{As of|2018|04|09|df=us}}, 39% of American Catholics attend church weekly, compared to 45% of American Protestants.<ref>{{cite web|last=Saaf|first=Lydia|title=Catholics' Church Attendance Resumes Downward Slide|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/232226/church-attendance-among-catholics-resumes-downward-slide.aspx|date=9 April 2018|publisher=[[Gallup (company)|Gallup]]}}</ref> About 10% of the United States' population {{as of|2010|lc=y}} are former Catholics or non-practicing, almost 30 million people.<ref>David Gibson, "Five Myths about Catholic sexual abuse scandal", ''Washington Post'', April 18, 2010.</ref> People have left for a number of reasons, factors which have also affected other denominations: loss of belief, disenchantment, disaffiliation for another religious group or for none, indifference. Compared with other religious groups, Catholics are fairly evenly dispersed throughout the country, but they currently remain scarce in the deep South.<ref>http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/07/7-facts-about-american-catholics{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Regional distribution of U.S. Catholics (as a percentage of the total U.S. Catholic population) is as follows: Northeast, 24%; Midwest, 19%; South, 32% (region with the largest number of Catholics); and West, 25%.<ref>"Where They Were And Where They Went," Commonweal, Volume 147, Number 4, April, 2020, 43. </ref> Owing to their numbers, more Catholics (13.3 million) reside in households with a yearly income of $100,000 or more than any other religious group.<ref>David Masci "How income varies among U.S. religious groups," (19% of 70 million is 13.3 million American Catholics) http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/11/how-income-varies-among-religious-u-s-religious-groups/ </ref> ==Organization== {{more citations needed section|date=March 2017}} [[File:US Roman Catholic dioceses map.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Provinces and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in the US. Each color represents one of the 32 Latin Church provinces.]] [[File:Gerald Farinas Holy Name Cathedral from Street.jpg|thumb|Chicago's [[Holy Name Cathedral (Chicago)|Holy Name Cathedral]] is the mother church of one of the largest [[List of Catholic dioceses in the United States|Catholic dioceses]] in the United States.]] [[File:Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, Los Angeles.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Los Angeles)|Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels]] is the head church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the second largest Catholic church in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/World-s-Largest-Cathedrals/sfaz-u3mt|title=World's Largest Cathedrals – Socrata|website=opendata.socrata.com|access-date=2012-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512110147/https://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/World-s-Largest-Cathedrals/sfaz-u3mt|archive-date=2013-05-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>]] {{See also|List of Catholic dioceses in the United States}} [[File:Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral.jpg|thumb|[[Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral (Raleigh, North Carolina)|Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral]] in [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] is the 5th largest [[cathedral]] in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/raleighs-holy-name-of-jesus-cathedral-to-hold-first-mass-wednesday_20180307104522242/1016925839|title=Raleigh's Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral holds first mass|last=Zarcone|first=Patrick|date=July 26, 2017|website=WNCN|language=en-US|access-date=April 11, 2019}}</ref>]] Roman Catholics gather as local communities called parishes, headed by a priest, and typically meet at a permanent church building for liturgies every Sunday, weekdays and on holy days. Within the 196 geographical dioceses and archdioceses (excluding the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA|Archdiocese for the Military Services]]), there were 17,007 local Catholic [[parishes]] in the United States in 2018.<ref name="CARA">{{cite web|url=https://cara.georgetown.edu/frequently-requested-church-statistics/ |title=Frequently Requested Church Statistics |work=cara.georgetown.edu |publisher=Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate |quote=Parishes [...] 17,007}}</ref> The Catholic Church has the third highest total number of local congregations in the US behind [[Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptists]] and [[United Methodist Church|United Methodists]]. However, the average Catholic parish is significantly larger than the average Baptist or Methodist congregation; there are more than four times as many Catholics as Southern Baptists and more than eight times as many Catholics as United Methodists<!-- (7,853,987) [Commenting this out: Why show UMC numbers without showing SBC numbers?] -->.<ref>''Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 2010''(Nashville: Abington Press, 2010), 12.</ref> In the United States, there are 197 ecclesiastical jurisdictions: * 177 [[Latin Church|Western Catholic]] [[dioceses]] ** including 32 Latin Catholic [[archdioceses]] * 18 [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] [[dioceses]] [[Eparchy|(eparchies)]] ** including 2 Eastern Catholic [[archdioceses]] [[Archeparchy|(archeparchies)]] ** including 1 [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Eparchy of the United States of America and Canada|Eparchy]] (for the [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]]) * 2 [[personal ordinariate]]s ** one for former [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]] who came into full [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] communion ** one for members of the military (though equivalent to an archdiocese, it is technically a [[military ordinariate]]) [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] are churches with origins in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa that have their own distinctive liturgical, legal and organizational systems and are identified by the national or ethnic character of their region of origin. Each is considered fully equal to the Latin tradition within the Catholic Church. In the United States, there are 15 Eastern Church dioceses (called [[Eparchy|eparchies]]) and two Eastern Church archdioceses (or [[Archeparchy|archeparchies]]), the [[Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh]] and the [[Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia]]. The apostolic exarchate for the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in the United States is headed by a bishop who is a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. An apostolic exarchate is the Eastern Catholic Church equivalent of an apostolic vicariate. It is not a full-fledged diocese/eparchy, but is established by the Holy See for the pastoral care of Eastern Catholics in an area outside the territory of the Eastern Catholic Church to which they belong. It is headed by a bishop or a priest with the title of [[Exarch#Modern Eastern Catholic churches|exarch]]. The [[Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter]] was established January 1, 2012, to serve former Anglican groups and clergy in the United States who sought to become Catholic. Similar to a diocese though national in scope, the ordinariate is based in [[Houston]], Texas, and includes parishes and communities across the United States that are fully Catholic, while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions. {{As of|2017}}, 8 dioceses out of 195 are vacant (''[[sede vacante]]''). None of the current bishops or archbishops are past the retirement age of 75. The central leadership body of the Catholic Church in the United States is the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops|U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops]], made up of the hierarchy of [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]] (including [[archbishop]]s) of the United States and the [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]], although each bishop is independent in his own [[diocese]], answerable only to the [[Holy See]]. The USCCB elects a president to serve as their administrative head, but he is in no way the "head" of the church or of Catholics in the United States. In addition to the 195 dioceses and one [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Exarchate in the United States|exarchate]]<ref name=exarchate>On July 14, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI erected the [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Exarchate in the United States]].</ref> represented in the USCCB, there are several dioceses in the nation's other four overseas dependencies. In the Commonwealth of [[Puerto Rico]], the bishops in the six dioceses (one [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] [[archdiocese]] and five suffragan dioceses) form their own [[episcopal conference]], the [[Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference]] (''Conferencia Episcopal Puertorriqueña'').<ref>{{cite web|title=Catholic Church in Puerto Rico|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/pr.html |last=Cheney|first=David M. |access-date=July 27, 2009}}</ref> The bishops in US [[insular area]]s in the [[Pacific Ocean]]—the Commonwealth of the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], the Territory of [[American Samoa]], and the Territory of [[Guam]]—are members of the [[Episcopal conference#Episcopal Conferences|Episcopal Conference of the Pacific]]. No [[Primate (bishop)|primate]] exists for Catholics in the United States. In the 1850s, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore#Episcopate|Archdiocese of Baltimore]] was acknowledged a ''Prerogative of Place'', which confers to its archbishop some of the leadership responsibilities granted to primates in other countries. The Archdiocese of Baltimore was the first diocese established in the United States, in 1789, with [[John Carroll (bishop)|John Carroll]] (1735–1815) as its first bishop. It was, for many years, the most influential diocese in the fledgling nation. Now, however, the United States has several large archdioceses and a number of [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]]-archbishops. By far, most Catholics in the United States belong to the [[Latin Church|Latin or Western Church]] and the [[Roman Rite]] of the Catholic Church. Rite generally refers to the form of worship ("liturgical rite") in a church community owing to cultural and historical differences as well as differences in practice. However, the Vatican II document, ''Orientalium Ecclesiarum'' ("Of the Eastern Churches"), acknowledges that these Eastern Catholic communities are "true Churches" and not just rites within the Catholic Church.<ref>Richard McBrien, THE CHURCH/THE EVOLUTION OF CATHOLICISM (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009), 450. Also see: BASIC VATICAN COUNCIL II: THE BASIC SIXTEEN DOCUMENTS (Costello Publishing, 1996).</ref> There are 14 other churches in the United States (23 within the global Catholic Church) which are in communion with Rome, fully recognized and valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. They have their own bishops and [[eparchy|eparchies]]. The largest of these communities in the U.S. is the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]].<ref name="cnewastat">{{cite web |url=http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat09.pdf |author=Ronald Roberson |title=The Eastern Catholic Churches 2009 |publisher=Catholic Near East Welfare Association |id=Information sourced from ''Annuario Pontificio'' 2009 edition |access-date=2011-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212051218/http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat09.pdf |archive-date=2011-12-12 |url-status=dead }} Retrieved November 2009</ref> Most of these churches are of Eastern European and Middle Eastern origin. Eastern Catholic Churches are distinguished from Eastern Orthodox, identifiable by their usage of the term Catholic.<ref>McBrien, 241,281, 365,450</ref> ==Personnel== The church employs people in a variety of leadership and service roles. Its ministers include ordained clergy ([[Bishop (Catholic Church)|bishops]], [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priests. and]] [[deacon]]s) and non-ordained [[lay ecclesial ministers]], [[theologians]], and [[catechists]]. Some Catholics, both lay and clergy, live in a form of [[consecrated life]], rather than in marriage. This includes a wide range of relationships, from monastic ([[monk]]s and [[nun]]s), to mendicant ([[friar]]s and sisters), apostolic (priests, [[Brother (Christian)|brother]][[Brothers|s]], and [[Religious sister (Catholic)|sisters)]], and secular and lay institutes. While many of these also serve in some form of ministry, above, others are in secular careers, within or without the church. Consecrated life – in and of itself – does not make a person a part of the clergy or a minister of the church. Additionally, many lay people are employed in "secular" careers in support of church institutions, including educators, health care professionals, finance and human resources experts, lawyers, and others. ===Bishops=== Leadership of the Catholic Church in the United States is provided by the bishops, individually for their own dioceses and collectively through the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]]. There are some mid-level groupings of bishops, such as ecclesiastical provinces (often covering a state) and the fourteen geographic regions of the USCCB, but these have little significance for most purposes. The ordinary office for a bishop is to be the bishop of a particular diocese, its chief pastor and minister, usually geographically defined and incorporating, on average, about 350,000 Catholic Christians. In [[canon law]], the bishop leading a particular diocese, or similar office, is called an "ordinary" (i.e., he has complete jurisdiction in this territory or grouping of Christians). There are two non-geographic dioceses, called "ordinariates", one for [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA|military personnel]] and one for [[List of Catholic dioceses in the United States|former Anglicans]] who are in full communion with the Catholic Church. Dioceses are grouped together geographically into provinces, usually within a state, part of a state, or multiple states together (see map below). A province comprises several dioceses which look to one ordinary bishop (usually of the most populous or historically influential diocese/city) for guidance and leadership. This lead bishop is their [[archbishop]] and his diocese is the [[archdiocese]]. The archbishop is called the "metropolitan" bishop who strives to achieve some unanimity of practice with his brother "suffragan" bishops. Some larger dioceses have additional bishops assisting the diocesan bishop, and these are called "auxiliary" bishops or, if a "[[Coadjutor bishop|coadjutor" bishop]], with right of succession. Additionally, some bishops are called to advise and assist the bishop of Rome, the [[pope]], in a particular way, either as an additional responsibility on top of their diocesan office or sometimes as a full-time position in the [[Roman Curia]] or related institution serving the universal church. These are called [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]], because they are "incardinated" onto a second diocese (Rome). All cardinals under the age of 80 participate in the election of a new pope when the office of the papacy becomes vacant. There are 428 active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States: [[File:Cardinals .jpg|thumb|1000px|In this image, the cardinals and bishops are processing through St. Peter's Basilica.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thecompassnews.org/2014/11/pope-bishops-must-servants-vain-careerists-power-honor/|title=Pope: Bishops must be servants, not vain careerists after power, honor {{!}} The Compass|date=November 5, 2014|work=The Compass|access-date=September 27, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>|alt=]] 255 active bishops: * 36 archbishops * 144 diocesan bishops * 67 auxiliary bishops * 8 apostolic or diocesan administrators 173 retired bishops: * 33 retired archbishops * 95 retired diocesan bishops * 45 retired auxiliary bishops ====Cardinals==== There are 15 U.S. cardinals.<ref>{{cite web |title="Bishops and Dioceses" |url=https://www.usccb.org/about/bishops-and-dioceses |website=USCCB |access-date=2 January 2021}}</ref> Six archdioceses are currently led by archbishops who have been created cardinals: * [[Blase J. Cupich]] – [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago|Chicago]] * [[Daniel DiNardo]] – [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston|Galveston-Houston]] * [[Timothy M. Dolan]] – [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York|New York]] * [[Seán Patrick O'Malley]] – [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston|Boston]] * [[Joseph W. Tobin]] – [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark|Newark]] * [[Wilton Daniel Gregory]] - [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington|Washington, D.C.]] Three cardinals are in service to the pope, in the Roman Curia or related offices: * [[Raymond Leo Burke]] – patron of the [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]] * [[Kevin Farrell]] – [[Prefect]] of the [[Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life]] * [[James Michael Harvey]] – [[Archpriest]] of the [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]] Six cardinals are retired: * [[Roger Mahony]] – [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Archbishop Emeritus]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles|Los Angeles]] * [[Adam Maida]] – [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Archbishop Emeritus]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit|Detroit]] * [[Edwin Frederick O'Brien]] – [[Grand Master (order)|Grand Master Emeritus]] of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre|Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem]] * [[Justin Francis Rigali]] – [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Archbishop Emeritus]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia|Philadelphia]] * [[James Stafford]] – [[Apostolic Penitentiary|Major Penitentiary Emeritus of the Apostolic Penitentiary]] and [[Archbishop Emeritus]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver|Denver]] * [[Donald Wuerl]] – [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|Archbishop Emeritus]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington|Washington, D.C.]] ===Clergy and ministers=== In 2018,<ref name="CARA"/> there were approximately 100,000 clergy and ministers employed by the church in the United States, including: * 36,580 presbyters (priests) ** 25,254 diocesan ** 11,326 religious/consecrated * 18,291 ordinary (permanent) deacons * 39,651 lay ecclesial ministers (2016)<ref>This number is conservative, as it only counts those in parish ministry, but there are many in deanery, diocesan, or chaplaincy work</ref> ** 23,149 diocesan ** 16,502 religious/consecrated There are also approximately 30,000 seminarians/students in formation for ministry: * 3,526 candidates for priesthood * 2,088 candidates for diaconate * 16,585 candidates for lay ecclesial ministry ===Lay employees=== The 630 Catholic hospitals in the U.S. have a combined budget of $101.7 billion, and employ 641,030 full-time equivalent staff.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chausa.org/docs/default-source/general-files/mini_profile-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=0|title=Untitled Page|website=www.chausa.org}}</ref> The 6,525 Catholic primary and secondary schools in the U.S. employ 151,101 full-time equivalent staff, 97.2% of whom are lay and 2.3% are consecrated, and 0.5% are ordained.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncea.org/NCEA/Proclaim/Catholic_School_Data/Catholic_School_Data.aspx|title=Catholic School Data|first=Advanced Solutions International|last=Inc.|website=www.ncea.org|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320053953/http://www.ncea.org/NCEA/Proclaim/Catholic_School_Data/Catholic_School_Data.aspx|archive-date=2017-03-20|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 261 Catholic institutions of higher (tertiary) education in the U.S. employ approximately 250,000 full-time equivalent staff, including faculty, administrators, and support staff.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.accunet.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3797#sthash.xHjNPgWO.dpbs |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320143331/http://www.accunet.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3797#sthash.xHjNPgWO.dpbs |archive-date=2017-03-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Overall, the Catholic Church employs more than one million employees with an operating budget of nearly $100 billion to run parishes, diocesan primary and secondary schools, nursing homes, retreat centers, hospitals, and other charitable institutions.<ref>Thomas Healy, "A Blueprint for Change," ''America'' September 26, 2005, 14.</ref> ==Approved translations of the Bible== ===USCCB approved translations=== 1991–present: * [[New American Bible, Revised Edition]] * Books of the New Testament, Alba House * Contemporary English Version – New Testament, First Edition, American Bible Society * Contemporary English Version – Book of Psalms, American Bible Society * Contemporary English Version – Book of Proverbs, American Bible Society * [[Grail Psalms|The Grail Psalter]] (Inclusive Language Version), G.I.A. Publications * New American Bible, Revised Old Testament * [[New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition]], [[National Council of Churches]] * The Psalms, Alba House * The Psalms (New International Version) – St. Joseph Catholic Edition, Catholic Book Publishing Company * The Psalms – St. Joseph New Catholic Version, Catholic Book Publishing Company * Revised Psalms of the New American Bible * [[Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition|Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition]], National Council of Churches * Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, National Council of Churches * So You May Believe, A Translation of the Four Gospels, Alba House * Today's English Version, Second Edition, American Bible Society * Translation for Early Youth, A Translation of the New Testament for Children, Contemporary English Version, American Bible Society ==Institutions== ===Parochial schools=== {{Main|Catholic schools in the United States|History of Catholic education in the United States}} By the middle of the 19th century, the Catholics in larger cities started building their own parochial school system. The main impetus was fear that exposure to Protestant teachers in the public schools, and Protestant fellow students, would lead to a loss of faith. Protestants reacted by [[Blaine Amendments|strong opposition to any public funding]] of parochial schools.<ref>Thomas E. Buckley, "A Mandate for Anti-Catholicism: The Blaine Amendment," ''America'' September 27, 2004, 18–21.</ref> The Catholics nevertheless built their elementary schools, parish by parish, using very low paid sisters as teachers.<ref>Jay P. Dolan, ''The American Catholic Experience'' (1985) pp 262–74</ref> In the classrooms, the highest priorities were piety, orthodoxy, and strict discipline. Knowledge of the subject matter was a minor concern, and in the late 19th century few of the teachers in parochial (or secular) schools had gone beyond the 8th grade themselves. The sisters came from numerous denominations, and there was no effort to provide joint teachers training programs. The bishops were indifferent. Finally around 1911, led by the [[Catholic University of America]] in Washington, Catholic colleges began summer institutes to train the sisters in pedagogical techniques. Long past World War II, the Catholic schools were noted for inferior plants compared to the public schools, and less well-trained teachers. The teachers were selected for religiosity, not teaching skills; the outcome was pious children and a reduced risk of marriage to Protestants.<ref>Jay P. Dolan, ''The American Catholic Experience'' (1985) pp 286–91</ref> However, by the later half the 20th century Catholic schools began to perform significantly better than their public counterparts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://edpolicy.education.jhu.edu/is-the-catholic-school-effect-real-new-research-challenges-the-catholic-primary-school-advantage/|title=Is the "Catholic School Effect" Real? New Research Challenges the Catholic Primary School Advantage|last=Baynham|first=Erin|date=June 19, 2014|website=Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy|language=en-US|access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> ===Universities and colleges=== {{main|List of Catholic universities and colleges in the United States}} <!--Please don't insert examples here. There is no point in listing every Catholic university in the United States here, as the complete list is at the cross-referenced "main" link below the header for this section.-->According to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in 2011, there are approximately 230 Catholic universities and colleges in the United States with nearly 1 million students and some 65,000 professors.<ref>Jerry Filteau, "Higher education leaders commit to strengthening Catholic identity," NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER, Vol 47, No. 9, February 18, 2011, 1</ref> In 2016, the number of tertiary schools fell to 227, while the number of students also fell to 798,006.<ref name="renodioc1">{{cite web|url=http://www.renodiocese.org/documents/2016/9/2016%202017%20directory.pdf |title=Diocese of Reno, 2016–2017 Directory |page=72 |quote= 'Colleges and Universities [...] 217' and 'Total Students [...] 798,006'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726211319/https://www.renodiocese.org/documents/2016/9/2016%202017%20directory.pdf|archive-date=July 26, 2018}}</ref> The national university of the church, founded by the nation's bishops in 1887, is The [[Catholic University of America]] in Washington, D.C. The first Catholic college/university of higher learning established in the United States is [[Georgetown University]], founded in 1789.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.georgetown.edu/about/history|title = Georgetown University: History|website = Georgetown University}}</ref> The richest U.S. Catholic university is [[The University of Notre Dame]] (founded in 1842) with an endowment of over 13 billion in 2018.<ref>"Endowment pool returns 12.2 percent for fiscal year." NOTRE DAME NEWS, Sept. 24, 2018.</ref><!--Please don't insert examples here. There is no point in listing every Catholic university in the United States here, as the complete list is at the cross-referenced "main" link below the header for this section.--> In the 2021 edition of ''US News and World Report'' rankings, 10 of the top 100 national universities in the US were Catholic.<ref>"2021 Best National University Rankings" ''US New and World Report'', Sept. 14, 2020.</ref> ===Seminaries=== {{Main|List of Catholic seminaries#United States}} According to the ''2016 Official Catholic Directory'', {{as of|2016|lc=y}} there were 243 [[Seminary|seminaries]] with 4,785 students in the United States; 3,629 diocesan seminarians and 1,456 religious seminarians. By the official 2017 statistics, there are 5,050 seminarians (3,694 diocesan and 1,356 religious) in the United States. In addition, the American Catholic bishops oversee the [[Pontifical North American College]] for American seminarians and priests studying at one of the [[Pontifical University|Pontifical Universities]] in [[Rome]]. ===Healthcare system=== In 2002, Catholic health care system, overseeing 625 hospitals with a combined revenue of 30 billion dollars, was the nation's largest group of nonprofit systems.<ref>Arthur Jones, "Catholic health care aims to make 'Catholic' a brand name," ''National Catholic Reporter'' July 18, 2003, 8.</ref> In 2008, the cost of running these hospitals had risen to $84.6 billion, including the $5.7 billion they donate.<ref>{{cite news | first=Sister Mary Ann | last=Walsh | title=Catholic health care for a broken arm; a cast and new shoes | publisher=The Florida Catholic | location=Orlando, Florida | page= A11 | date=August 28 – September 10, 2009 }}</ref> According to the [[Catholic Health Association of the United States]], 60 health care systems, on average, admit one in six patients nationwide each year.<ref>Alice Popovici, "Keeping Catholic priorities on the table," ''[[National Catholic Reporter]]'' June 26, 2009, 7.</ref> According to Merger Watch (2018), Catholic facilities make up about 10% of all "sole community providers" in the US (49 out of 514). In some states, the percentage is much greater: in Wisconsin and South Dakota, for example, "Catholic hospitals account for at least 50% of sole community providers."<ref>Katie Hafner, "When the Religious Objection Comes From Your Local Hospital," ''The New York Times'', August 16, 2018, p. 14.</ref> ===Catholic Charities=== [[Catholic Charities]] is active as the largest voluntary social service networks in the United States. In 2009, it welcomed in New Jersey the 50,000th refugee to come to the United States from [[Myanmar|Burma]]. Likewise, the US Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services has resettled 14,846 refugees from Burma since 2006.<ref>"50,000th refugee settled," ''[[National Catholic Reporter]]'' July 24, 2009, 3.</ref> In 2010 Catholic Charities USA was one of only four charities among the top 400 charitable organizations to witness an increase in donations in 2009, according to a survey conducted by ''The Chronicle of Philanthropy.''<ref>Michael Sean Winters, "Catholic giving bucks national trend," The Tablet, October 23, 2010, 32.</ref> ===Catholic Church and labor=== {{Main|Catholic social activism in the United States}} The church had a role in shaping the U.S. labor movement, due to the involvement of priests like [[Charles Owen Rice]] and [[John P. Boland (priest)|John P. Boland]]. The activism of [[Geno Baroni]] was instrumental in creating the [[Catholic Campaign for Human Development]]. The [[Catholic Worker Movement]] was founded in 1933 by [[Dorothy Day]] and [[Peter Maurin]]. It campaigns on various social justice issues and aims to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.catholicworker.org/cw-aims-and-means.html | title=The Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker | website=Catholicworker.org}}</ref> ===Prisons=== {{#section-h:Religion in United States prisons|Catholicism}} ==Demographics== There were 70,412,021 registered Catholics in the United States (22% of the US population) in 2017, according to the American bishops' count in their ''Official Catholic Directory 2016''.<ref name="renodioc">{{cite web|url=http://www.renodiocese.org/documents/2016/9/2016%202017%20directory.pdf|title=Diocese of Reno, 2016–2017 Directory|page=72|quote=Total Catholic Population [...] 70,412,021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726211319/https://www.renodiocese.org/documents/2016/9/2016%202017%20directory.pdf|archive-date=July 26, 2018}}</ref> This count primarily rests on the parish assessment tax which priests evaluate yearly according to the number of registered members and contributors. Estimates of the overall American Catholic population from recent years generally range around 20% to 28%. According to Albert J. Menedez, research director of "Americans for Religious Liberty," many Americans continue to call themselves Catholic but "do not register at local parishes for a variety of reasons."<ref>Albert J. Mendedez, "American Catholics, A Social and Political Portrait," THE HUMANIST, September/October, 1993, 17–20.</ref> According to a survey of 35,556 American residents (released in 2008 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life), 23.9% of Americans identify themselves as Catholic (approximately 72 million of a national population of 306 million residents).<ref>Michael Paulson, "US religious identity is rapidly changing," ''[[Boston Globe]]'', February 26, 2008, 1</ref> The study notes that 10% of those people who identify themselves as Protestant in the interview are former Catholics and 8% of those who identity themselves as Catholic are former Protestants.<ref>Ted Olsen, "Go Figure," ''[[Christianity Today]]'', April, 2008, 15</ref> In recent years, more parishes have opened than closed. The northeastern quadrant of the US (i.e., New England, Mid-Atlantic, East North Central, and West North Central) has seen a decline in the number of parishes since 1970, but parish numbers are up in the other five regions (i.e., South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, Pacific, and Mountain regions) and are growing steadily.<ref>Dennis Sadowski, "When parishes close, there is more to deal with than just logistics," ''[[National Catholic Reporter]]'' 7 July 2009, 6.</ref><ref>Robert David Sullivan, "Parishes without pastors decline, but only because more churches have closed," ''AMERICA'', May 24, 2019, p.14</ref> Catholics in the US are about 6% of the church's total worldwide 1.2 billion membership. {{See also|Black Catholicism}} A poll by The Barna Group in 2004 found Catholic ethnicity to be 60% non-Hispanic white (generally of mixed ethnicity, but almost always includes at least one historically Catholic ethnicity such as [[Irish Americans|Irish]], [[Italian Americans|Italian]], [[German Americans|German]], [[Polish Americans|Polish]], or [[French Americans|French]]), 31% [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]] of any nationality (mostly [[Mexican Americans|Mexicans]] but also many [[Cuban Americans|Cubans]], [[Puerto Ricans]], [[Dominican Americans|Dominicans]], Central Americans and [[Colombian Americans|Colombians]] among others), 4% [[African Americans|Black]] [including [[African immigration to the United States|Africans]], [[Haitian Americans|Haitians]], [[Black Hispanic and Latino Americans|black Latino]] and [[West Indian American|Caribbean]]], and 5% other ethnicity (mostly [[Filipino Americans|Filipinos]], [[Vietnamese Americans|Vietnamese]] and other [[Asian Americans]], [[Multiracial Americans|Americans who are multiracial and have mixed ethnicities]], and [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]]).<ref>[http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=15] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305223609/http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=15 |date=March 5, 2005 }}</ref> Among the non-Hispanic whites, about 16 million Catholics identify as being of [[Irish Americans|Irish descent]], about 13 million [[German Americans|as German]], about 12 million [[Italian Americans|as Italian]], about 7 million [[Polish Americans|as Polish]], and about 5 million [[French Americans|as French]] (note that many identify with more than one ethnicity). The roughly 7.8 million Catholics who are converts (mainly from Protestantism, with a smaller number from irreligion or other religions) are also mostly non-Hispanic white, including many people of [[British Americans|British]], [[Dutch Americans|Dutch]], and [[Scandinavian American|Scandinavian]] ancestry.<ref>Pew Report, March 17, 2012. 2.6% of all Americans (320 million) are former Protestants, currently Catholic. 7.8 million.</ref> Between 1990 and 2008, there were 11 million additional Catholics. The growth in the Latino population accounted for 9 million of these. They accounted for 32% of all American Catholics in 2008 as opposed to 20% in 1990.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Patricia | last=Zapor | title=Study finds Latinos who leave their churches are choosing no faith | url=http://www.jknirp.com/nofaith.htm | publisher=the Florida Catholic | location=Orlando, Florida | pages=A11 | date=March 25 – April 8, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225161416/http://jknirp.com/nofaith.htm | archive-date=December 25, 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref><!---note that print ref does not match online as to source but they are both the same---> The percentage of Hispanics who identified as Catholic dropped from 67% in 2010 to 55% in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2014/05/07/the-shifting-religious-identity-of-latinos-in-the-united-states/|title=The Shifting Religious Identity of Latinos in the United States|date=7 May 2014}}</ref> According to a more recent Pew Forum report which examined American religiosity in 2014 and compared it to 2007,<ref name=pew>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/|title=America's Changing Religious Landscape|publisher=Pew Research|date=May 12, 2015}}</ref> there were 50.9 million adult Catholics {{as of|2014|lc=y}} (excluding children under 18), forming about 20.8% of the U.S. population, down from 54.3 million and 23.9% in 2007. Pew also found that the Catholic population is aging, forming a higher percentage of the elderly population than the young, and retention rates are also worse among the young. About 41% of those "young" raised Catholic have left the faith (as opposed to 32% overall), about half of these to the unaffiliated population and the rest to evangelical, other Protestant faith communities, and non-Christian faith. Conversions to Catholicism are rare, with 89% of current Catholics being raised in the religion; 8% of current Catholics are ex-Protestants,<ref>"Statistics on Religion in America Report," Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 3/17/12</ref> 2% were raised unaffiliated, and 1% in other religions (Orthodox Christian, Mormon or other nontrinitarian, Buddhist, Muslim, etc.), with Jews and Hindus least likely to become Catholic of all the religious groups surveyed. Overall, Catholicism has by far the worst net conversion balance of any major religious group, with a high conversion rate out of the faith and a low rate into it; by contrast, most other religions have in- and out-conversion rates that roughly balance, whether high or low. This is credited to the more liberal stance of the church since [[Vatican II]], where conversion to Catholicism is no longer encouraged, and the de-emphasizing of basic Catholic religious beliefs in Catholic education. Still, according to the 2015 Pew Research Center, "the Catholic share of the population has been relatively stable over the long term, according to a variety of other surveys<ref>"America's Changing Religious Landscape," Pew Research Center, May 12, 2015.</ref> By race, 59% of Catholics are non-Hispanic white, 34% Hispanic, 3% black, 3% Asian, and 2% mixed or Native American. Conversely, 19% of non-Hispanic whites were Catholic in 2014 (down from 22% in 2007), whereas 55% of Hispanics were (versus 58% in 2007). In 2015, Hispanics were 38%, while blacks and Asians were at 3% each.<ref name=manilatimes_afp>{{cite news|title=Immigration boosting US Catholic numbers|url=http://www.manilatimes.net/immigration-boosting-us-catholic-numbers/220344/|work=[[The Manila Times]]|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=September 23, 2015}}</ref><ref>"Religion in Latin American [and among the US Hispanic population]" Pew Research Center, Nov. 13, 2014.</ref> Because conversion away from Catholicism as well as dropping out of religion completely is presently occurring much more quickly among Hispanics than among Euro-American whites, Black (2.9% of US Catholic population)<ref>"'Act Justly, love goodness': Black Catholics in America," AMERICAMAGAZINE.ORG</ref> and Asian-American Catholics, it is doubtful they will outnumber the latter three categories of Catholics in the foreseeable future. Pew Research Center predicts that by 2050 (when the Hispanic population will be 128 million),<ref>pewresearch.org>hispanic>2008/02/11> us-population-projection</ref> only 40% of "third generation Latinos" will be Catholic, with 22% becoming Protestant, 24% becoming unaffiliated, and the remainder, other.<ref>Elizabeth Diaz, "The Rise of Evangelicos," TIME, July 4, 2013. 24.</ref> This corresponds to a sharp decline in the Catholic percentage among self-identified Democrats, who are more likely to be nonwhite than Republicans.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/ |title = U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious &#124; Pew Research Center|date = 2015-11-03}}</ref> ===By state=== [[File:Comber Hall.jpg|thumb|[[Church of the Little Flower (Coral Gables, Florida)]]]] {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !State!!% Catholic<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-by-population-of-catholics.html | title=US States by Population of Catholics}}</ref>!!Largest Christian denomination |- |align="center"|[[Massachusetts]]||align="center"|34||rowspan="11" align="center"|[[Catholic Church]] |- |align="center"|[[Rhode Island]]||align="center"|42 |- |align="center"|[[New Jersey]]||align="center"|34 |- |align="center"|[[California]]||align="center"|28 |- |align="center"|[[New York (state)|New York]]||align="center"|31 |- |align="center"|[[New Hampshire]]||align="center"|26 |- |align="center"|[[Connecticut]]||align="center"|33 |- |align="center"|[[Texas]]||align="center"|23 |- |align="center"|[[Arizona]]||align="center"|21 |- |align="center"|[[Illinois]]||align="center"|28 |- |align="center"|[[Louisiana]]||align="center"|26 |- |align="center"|[[North Dakota]]||align="center"|26||align="center"|[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] |- |align="center"|[[Wisconsin]]||align="center"|25||align="center" rowspan='8'|[[Catholic Church]] |- |align="center"|[[Pennsylvania]]||align="center"|24 |- |align="center"|[[Nebraska]]||align="center"|23 |- |align="center"|[[Florida]]||align="center"|21 |- |align="center"|[[New Mexico]]||align="center"|34 |- |align="center"|[[Vermont]]||align="center"|22 |- |align="center"|[[Maine]]||align="center"|21 |- |align="center"|[[Minnesota]]||align="center"|22 |- |align="center"|[[South Dakota]]||align="center"|22||align="center"|[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] |- |align="center"|[[Colorado]]||align="center"|16||rowspan="13" align="center" |[[Catholic Church]] |- |align="center"|[[Hawaii]]||align="center"|20 |- |align="center"|[[Montana]]||align="center"|17 |- |align="center"|[[Nevada]]||align="center"|25 |- |align="center"|[[Ohio]]||align="center"|18 |- |align="center"|[[Iowa]]||align="center"|18 |- |align="center"|[[Maryland]]||align="center"|15 |- |align="center"|[[Michigan]]||align="center"|18 |- |align="center"|[[Washington (state)|Washington]]||align="center"|17 |- |align="center"|[[Indiana]]||align="center"|18 |- |align="center"|[[Kansas]]||align="center"|18 |- |align="center"|[[Missouri]]||align="center"|16 |- |align="center"|[[Wyoming]]||align="center"|14 |- |align="center"|[[Idaho]]||align="center"|10||align="center" |[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] |- |align="center"|[[Oregon]]||align="center"|12||align="center" |[[Catholic Church]] |- |align="center"|[[Kentucky]]||align="center"|10||rowspan="4" align="center" |[[Southern Baptist Convention]] |- |align="center"|[[Virginia]]||align="center"|12 |- |align="center"|[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]||align="center"|9 |- |align="center"|[[Oklahoma]]||align="center"|8 |- |align="center"|[[Delaware]]||align="center"|22||align="center" |[[United Methodist Church]] |- |align="center"|[[North Carolina]]||align="center"|9||rowspan="5" align="center" |[[Southern Baptist Convention]] |- |align="center"|[[Alaska]]||align="center"|16 |- |align="center"|[[Arkansas]]||align="center"|8 |- |align="center"|[[South Carolina]]||align="center"|10 |- |align="center"|[[Tennessee]]||align="center"|6 |- |align="center"|[[Utah]]||align="center"|5||[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] |- |align="center"|[[West Virginia]]||align="center"|6||rowspan="3" align="center" |[[Southern Baptist Convention]] |- |align="center"|[[Mississippi]]||align="center"|4 |- |align="center"|[[Alabama]]||align="center"|7 |} Within the United States, it "represents perhaps the most multi-ethnic organization of any kind, and so is a major laboratory for cross-cultural cooperation and cross-cultural communication completely within the nation's borders."<ref>Ibid., 75.</ref> ==Politics== {{main|Catholic Church and politics in the United States}} {{Pie chart | thumb = right | caption = Political ideology among American Catholics<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/catholic/political-ideology/ | title=Political ideology among Catholics - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics}}</ref> | label1=[[Conservatism in the United States|Conservative]] | value1=37 | color1=Red | label2=[[Modern Liberalism in the United States|Liberal]] | value2=22 | color2=DodgerBlue | label3=Moderate | value3=36 | color3=Violet | label4=Don't know | value4=5 | color4=black }} There has never been a Catholic religious party in the United States, either local, state or national, similar to [[Christian democracy|Christian Democratic]] parties in Europe. Historically, a majority of the Catholics in the United States supported the [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] before 1968. Since the election of the Catholic [[John F. Kennedy]] as President in [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]], Catholics have split about 50-50 between the two major parties, but the Democrats have a slight lead due to the growing population of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic Americans]]. [[Joe Biden]] was elected the second Catholic President in [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Gibson|first=Ginger|date=August 25, 2008|title=Parishioners not surprised to see Biden at usual Mass|page=A.12|newspaper=[[The News Journal]]|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/delawareonline/access/1742751081.html?FMT=ABS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601093036/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/delawareonline/access/1742751081.html?FMT=ABS|archive-date=June 1, 2013}}</ref> On social issues, the Catholic Church takes strong positions against [[abortion]], which was partly [[Roe v. Wade|legalized in 1973 by the Supreme Court]], and [[same-sex marriage]], which was [[Obergefell v. Hodges|fully legalized in June 2015]]. The church also condemns embryo-destroying research and [[In vitro fertilization]] as immoral. The church is allied with conservative evangelicals and other Protestants on these issues. However, the Catholic Church throughout its history has taken special concern for all vulnerable groups. This has led to progressive alliances, as well, with the church championing causes such as a strong welfare state, unionization,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=|url=http://www.icpj.org/resources/Catholic-Teaching-on-Labor.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref> immigration for those fleeing economic or political hardship,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/13/catholic-bishops-call-trumps-new-asylum-rules-immoral-with-one-suggesting-canonical-penalties-for-those-involved/|title=Catholic bishops call Trump's asylum rules 'immoral,' with one suggesting 'canonical penalties' for those involved|website=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=March 30, 2019|date=June 13, 2018}}</ref> [[Catholic Church and capital punishment|opposition to capital punishment]],<ref name="Revision2">{{cite web|url=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/08/02/180802a.html|title=New revision of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty – Rescriptum "ex Audentia SS.mi"|date=2 August 2018|website=Summary of Bulletin|publisher=Holy See Press Office|access-date=3 August 2018}}</ref> environmental stewardship,<ref>Stewardship of God's Creation, Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.</ref> <!-- It's not clear that this is a policy of the Catholic Church. The cited resource is an opinion article, not an official statement or position from church leaders. -->gun control,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/201304/gun-control-pro-life-issue-27145|title=Gun control: A pro-life issue|website=USCatholic.org}}</ref> opposition and critical evaluation of modern warfare.<ref>See [[The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response]]</ref> The Catholic Church's teachings, coming from the perspective of a global church, do not conform easily to the American political binary of "[[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberals]]" and "[[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]]." A majority of pro-choice Catholics support the Democrats, while many pro-life Catholics support the Republicans. In 2021, 30.9% of Congress was Catholic and 24.5% of the Senate was of that faith. <ref>"Faith on the Hill: The religious composition of the 117th Congress," Pew Research Center, Religion and Public Life, January 4, 2021.</ref> ===Social issues=== The Catholic Church's involvement in social or political movements was not very prominent until bishops in the United States addressed problems on racism in 1958 in a written piece called "Discrimination and Christian Conscience". In the 1960s, the Catholic Church showed support in the [[Selma to Montgomery marches]], which involved the attendance of Dutch priest [[Henri Nouwen]].<ref>Roman Catholicism in America Page 81-83</ref> ==History== {{Main|History of the Catholic Church in the United States}} ===Early colonial period=== {{Main|Catholic Church in the Thirteen Colonies|Spanish missions in California}} [[File:St Francis Xavier Church.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[St. Francis Xavier Church and Newtown Manor House Historic District|St. Francis Xavier Church]] in [[Compton, Maryland]], is the oldest Catholic church in continuous operation from the Thirteen Colonies. The Province of Maryland was founded with an English Catholic identity.<ref name="maryland"/>]] One of the colonies of [[British America]]; the [[Province of Maryland]]; was founded with an explicitly [[English Catholic]] identity in the 17th century, contrasting itself with the neighbouring Protestant-dominated [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] and [[Colony of Virginia]].<ref name="maryland">{{cite web |title=Roman Catholics, Not Papists: Catholic Identity in Maryland, 1689-1776|url=https://epicpew.com/american-cities-named-saints/|publisher=Beatrix Betancourt Hardy}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> It was named after the Catholic Queen [[Henrietta Maria]], the wife of [[Charles I of England]]. Politically, it was under the influence of Catholic [[colonial families of Maryland]] such as the Calvert [[Baron Baltimore]] and the [[O'Carroll|Carroll]] family, the latter of Irish origin.<ref name="calcarr">{{cite web |title=The United States’ Catholic Beginnings in Colonial Maryland|url=http://napa-institute.org/2018/09/25/the-united-states-catholic-beginnings-in-colonial-maryland/|publisher=NAPA Institute}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> Much of the religious situation in the Thirteen Colonies reflected the sectarian divisions of the [[English Civil War]] and in a larger sense the aftermath of the [[English Reformation]].<ref name="newengland">{{cite web |title=New England's God: Anti-Catholicism and Colonial New England|url=https://collected.jcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1016&context=mastersessays|publisher=John Carroll University}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> Furthermore, radical [[Puritans]], who were viewed as outsiders in England for their opposition to the establishment [[Laudian]]-leaning [[Anglican Church]], saw settlement in the American Colonies, particularly with the [[Plymouth Colony]], as a way to escape religious restrictions against them in "the motherland" and were often theologically even more hostile to Catholics than the situation in England itself.<ref name="newengland"/> The [[Province of Pennsylvania]], which was given to the [[Quaker]], [[William Penn]] by the last Catholic King of England, [[James II]], advocated religious toleration as a principle and thus some Catholics lived there.<ref name="colcath"/><ref>{{cite web |title="Good Will to All Men... from the King on the throne to the beggar on the dunghill": William Penn, the Roman Catholics and Religious Toleration|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27773762|publisher=Paul Douglas Newman}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> There were also some Catholics in the [[Province of New York]] (named after the aforementioned James II). In 1785, the estimated number of Catholics was at 25,000; 15,800 in Maryland, 7,000 in Pennsylvania and 1,500 in New York.<ref name="eightyfive">{{cite web |title=Welfare and Conversion: The Catholic Church in African-American Communities in the U.S. South, 1884-1939|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4315075.pdf|publisher=William Francis Collopy}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> There were only 25 priests serving the faithful. This was less than 2% of the total population in the Thirteen Colonies.<ref name="eightyfive"/> Following the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] in 1776, the [[United States]] came to incorporate into itself territories with a pre-existing Catholic history under their previous governance by [[New France]] and [[New Spain]]; the two premier European Catholic powers active in [[North America]].<ref name="colcath"/> The [[territorial evolution of the United States]] since 1776 has meant that today more areas that are now part of the United States were Catholic in colonial times before they were Protestant. In 1803, the [[Louisiana Purchase]] saw vast territories in [[French Louisiana]] transferred over from the Catholic [[Kingdom of France]], areas that would become the following states; [[Arkansas]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Nebraska]], [[Minnesota]], [[Louisiana]], [[South Dakota]], [[Wyoming]] and [[Montana]], half of [[Colorado]] and [[North Dakota]], parts of [[New Mexico]], [[Texas]] and [[North Dakota]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase|title=Louisiana Purchase {{!}} History, Facts, & Map|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=July 21, 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525200210/https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The French named a number of their settlements after Catholic saints, such as [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan|Sault Ste. Marie]], [[St. Ignace, Michigan|St. Ignace]], [[St. Charles, Missouri|St. Charles]] and others.<ref name="cities">{{cite web |title=The Story Behind 54 American Cities Named After Catholic Saints|url=https://epicpew.com/american-cities-named-saints/|publisher=Epic Pew}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> The Catholic, culturally French population of Americans, descended from this colony are today known as the [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creole]] and [[Cajuns|Cajun people]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sociolinguistic Situation of Creoles in South Louisiana: Identity, Characteristics, Attitudes|url=https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8282&context=gradschool_disstheses|publisher=Louisiana State University}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Catholic soul of Cajun Country |url=http://www.catholicdigest.com/travel/201001-29the-catholic-soul-of-cajun-country/|publisher=Catholic Digest}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> [[File:King louis statue tonemapped.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The ''[[Apotheosis of St. Louis]]'' in [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. Much of what is today the United States once fell under [[New France]] and [[New Spain]], Catholic powers who named many cities after Catholic saints.<ref name="colcath">{{cite web |title=The Colonial Beginnings of North American Catholicism|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2017/04/24/colonial-beginnings-north-american-catholicism|publisher=America Magazine}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref>]] During the 19th century, territories previously belonging to the Catholic [[Spanish Empire]] became part of the United States, starting with [[Florida]] in the 1820s.<ref>Gannon, "''The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513-1870''", University of Florida Press, 1983</ref> Most of the Spanish American territories with a Catholic heritage became independent during the early 19th century, this included [[Mexico]] on the border of the United States. The United States subsequently annexed parts of Mexico, starting with [[Texas]] in the 1840s and after the end of the [[Mexican–American War]] an area known as the [[Mexican Cession]], including what would become the states of [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], most of [[Arizona]], the rest of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.<ref name="BLM">{{Cite web|url=http://www.blm.gov/natacq/pls02/pls1-1_02.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929200726/http://www.blm.gov/natacq/pls02/pls1-1_02.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Table 1.1 Acquisition of the Public Domain 1781-1867|archive-date=September 29, 2006}}</ref> To an even greater extent than the French, the Spanish had named many settlements in the colonial period after Catholic saints or in reference to Catholic religious symbolism, names that they would retain after becoming part of the United States, especially in California ([[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]], [[San Diego]], [[Sacramento]], [[San Bernardino]], [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]], [[Santa Clarita, California|Santa Clarita]], [[San Juan Capistrano]], [[San Luis Obispo]] and numerous others), as well as Texas ([[San Antonio]], [[San Juan, Texas|San Juan]], [[San Marcos, Texas|San Marcos]] and [[San Angelo, Texas|San Angelo]]), New Mexico ([[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]) and Florida ([[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]]).<ref name="cities"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Spanish Place Names in the USA: from Colonial to Mainstream|url=https://www.academia.edu/6760370/Spanish_Place_Names_in_the_USA_from_Colonial_to_Mainstream|publisher=Pascale Smorag}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> As late as 1898, following the [[Spanish–American War]], the United States took control of [[Puerto Rico]], [[Guam]] and the [[Philippines]], as well as [[Cuba]] for a time, all of which had several centuries of Spanish Catholic colonial history (though they were not made into states).<ref>{{cite web |title=Religion, the Spanish-American War, and the Idea of American Mission |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275318626_Religion_the_Spanish-American_War_and_the_Idea_of_American_Mission|publisher=Journal of Church and State}} Retrieved on 15&nbsp;October 2020.</ref> ===Towards the founding of the United States=== {{Main|History of the Catholic Church in the United States}} Anti-Catholicism was official government policy for the English who settled the colonies along the Atlantic seaboard.<ref>{{cite book |first=John Tracy |last=Ellis |title=American Catholicism|url=https://archive.org/details/americancatholic0000elli_n7j0 |url-access=registration |year=1956}}</ref> Maryland was founded by a Catholic, [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]], as the first 'non-denominational' colony and was the first to accommodate Catholics. A charter was issued to him in 1632.<ref>Richard Middleton, ''Colonial America 1565-1776'' (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002), 95</ref> In 1650, the Puritans in the colony rebelled and repealed the Act of Toleration. Catholicism was outlawed and Catholic priests were hunted and exiled. By 1658, the Act of Toleration was reinstated and Maryland became the center of Catholicism into the mid-19th century. In 1689 Puritans rebelled and again repealed the [[Maryland Toleration Act]]. These rebels cooperated with the colonial assembly "dominated by Anglicans to endow the Church of England with tax support and to bar Catholics (and Quakers) from holding public office."<ref>Alan Taylor, ''American Colonies'' (New York: Viking, 2001), 283.</ref> New York, interestingly enough, proved more tolerant with its Catholic governor, Thomas Dongan, and other Catholic officials.<ref>Middleton, 158.</ref> Freedom of religion returned with the American Revolution. In 1756, a Maryland Catholic official estimated seven thousand practicing Catholics in Maryland and three thousand in Pennsylvania.<ref>Dale Taylor, The Writers' Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America, 1607-1783, 1997, 273.</ref> The Williamsburg Foundation estimates in 1765 Maryland Catholics at 20,000 and 6,000 in Pennsylvania. The population of these colonies at the time was approximately 180,000 and 200,000, respectively. By the time the American War for Independence started in 1776, Catholics formed 1.6%, or 40,000 persons of the 2.5 million population of the 13 colonies.<ref>Richard Middleton, ''Colonial America'' (2003), 95–100, 145, 158, 159, 349n</ref><ref>Maynard, 126-126</ref> Another estimate is 35,000 in 1789, 60% in Maryland with not many more than 30 priests.<ref>Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, 1992, p. 205 {{ISBN|0-281-04693-X}}</ref> John Carroll, first Catholic Bishop, in 1785, two years after the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]], reported 24,000 registered communicants in the new country, of whom 90% were in Maryland and Pennsylvania.<ref>The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1996 p. 376 {{ISBN|0-306-80687-8}}</ref> [[File:John Carroll Gilbert Stuart.jpg|thumb|right|[[John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore)|John Carroll]], Archbishop of Baltimore was the first Catholic bishop in the United States. His cousin, [[Charles Carroll of Carrollton|Charles Carroll]], was a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].]] After the Revolution, Rome made entirely new arrangements for the creation of an American diocese under American bishops.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Breidenbach|first1=Michael|title=Conciliarism and the American Founding|journal=William and Mary Quarterly|date=July 2016|volume=73|issue=3|pages=487–88|doi=10.5309/willmaryquar.73.3.0467|jstor=10.5309/willmaryquar.73.3.0467|s2cid=148090971}}</ref><ref>Theodore Maynard, ''The Story of American Catholicism'' (1960), 155.</ref> Numerous Catholics served in the American army and the new nation had very close ties with Catholic France.<ref>Maynard, 126-42</ref> General George Washington insisted on toleration; for example, he issued strict orders in 1775 that "[[Pope's Day]]," the colonial equivalent of [[Guy Fawkes Night]], was not to be celebrated. European Catholics played major military roles, especially [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette]], [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau]], [[Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing]], [[Casimir Pulaski]] and [[Tadeusz Kościuszko]].<ref>Maynard, 140–41.</ref> Irish-born Commodore [[John Barry (naval officer)|John Barry]] from [[County Wexford|Co Wexford]], [[Ireland]], often credited as "the Father of the American Navy," also played an important military role.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martin I. J. Griffin|title=Catholics and the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLQTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1|year=1909|pages=1–7}}</ref> Beginning in approximately 1780 there was a [[Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery#Emergence of the American Catholic Church|struggle]] between [[Trusteeism#United States|lay trustees]] and bishops over the ownership of church property, with the trustees losing control following the 1852 [[Plenary Councils of Baltimore]].<ref name="Howard C. Kee 1997 6">Howard C. Kee et al., Christianity: A Social and Cultural History (2nd Edition), 2 ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997), 456.</ref> Of the colonial era, historian Jay Dolan says: :They had lived as second-class citizens, discriminated against politically, professionally, and socially. The revolution changed all this. New laws and new constitutions gave them religious freedom.... [leading] John Carroll to observe in 1779 that Roman Catholics are members of Congress, assemblies, and hold civil and military posts.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jay P. Dolan|title=The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2P-GRjwqqgC&pg=PT180|year=2011|pages=180–81|isbn=9780307553898}}</ref><br>President Washington promoted religious tolerance by proclamations and by publicly attending services in various Protestant and Catholic churches.<ref>Paul F. Boller, "George Washington and Religious Liberty." The ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 17.4 (1960): 486-506. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1943414 online]</ref> The old colonial laws imposing restrictions on Catholics were gradually abolished by the states, and were prohibited in the new federal constitution.<ref>{{cite book|author=James MacCaffrey|title=History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century (1789-1908)|publisher=M.H. Gill|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924092366404|year=1910|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924092366404/page/n289 270]}}</ref> In 1787 two Catholics, [[Daniel Carroll]] of the Irish O'Carrolls and Irish born [[Thomas Fitzsimons]], helped draft the new [[United States Constitution]].<ref>Maynard, 145–46.</ref> John Carroll was appointed by the Vatican as Prefect Apostolic, making him superior of the missionary church in the thirteen states. He formulated the first plans for Georgetown University and became the first American bishop in 1789.<ref>Catherine O'Donnell, "John Carroll and the Origins of an American Catholic Church, 1783–1815." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 68.1 (2011): 101-126. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.68.1.0101 online]</ref> ===19th century (1800–1900)=== {{Main|19th century history of the Catholic Church in the United States}} [[File:St Patrick's cathedral NY.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[nave]] of the [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]], New York City; completed in 1878]] The number of Catholics surged starting in the 1840s as [[German Americans|German]], [[Irish Americans|Irish]], and other European Catholics came in large numbers. After 1890, [[Italian Americans|Italians]] and [[Polish Americans|Poles]] formed the largest numbers of new Catholics, but many countries in Europe contributed, as did Quebec. By 1850, Catholics had become the country's largest single denomination.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} Between 1860 and 1890, their population tripled to seven million. Some [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] political movements appeared: the [[Know Nothing]]s in the 1840s. [[American Protective Association]] in the 1890s, and the [[Ku Klux Klan#Second era|second Ku Klux Klan]] in the 1920s, were active in the United States. Animosity by Protestants waned as Catholics demonstrated their patriotism in [[World War I]], their commitment to charity, and their dedication to democratic values.<ref>Tyler Anbinder, "Nativism and prejudice against immigrants" in Reed Ueda, ed., ''A companion to American immigration'' (2006) pp: 177–201.</ref> The bishops began standardizing discipline in the American Church with the convocation of the [[Plenary Councils of Baltimore]] in 1852, 1866 and 1884. These councils resulted in the promulgation of the [[Baltimore Catechism]] and the establishment of The [[Catholic University of America]]. [[File:Our Lady of Sorrows 080202 feedback.jpg|upright=0.9|thumb|[[Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica|The Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows]], Chicago]] Jesuit priests who had been expelled from Europe found a new base in the U.S. They founded numerous secondary schools and 28 colleges and universities, such as Georgetown University (1789), [[St. Louis University|St. Louis University (1818)]], [[Boston College]], the [[College of Holy Cross]], the [[University of Santa Clara]], and several Loyola Colleges.<ref>Peter McDonough, ''Men astutely trained: A history of the Jesuits in the American Century'' (2008).</ref> Many other religious communities like the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]], [[Congregation of Holy Cross]], and [[Franciscans]] followed suit. In the 1890s the [[Americanism (heresy)|''Americanism'' controversy]] roiled senior officials. The Vatican suspected there was too much liberalism in the American Church, and the result was a turn to conservative theology as the Irish bishops increasingly demonstrated their total loyalty to the Pope, and traces of liberal thought in the Catholic colleges were suppressed.<ref>James Hennessy, S.J., ''American Catholics: A history of the Roman Catholic community in the United States'' (1981) pp 194–203</ref><ref>Thomas T. McAvoy, "The Catholic Minority after the Americanist Controversy, 1899–1917: A Survey," ''Review of Politics'', Jan 1959, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp 53–82 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1405340 in JSTOR]</ref> As part of this controversy, the founder of the [[Paulist Fathers]], Isaac Hecker, was accused by the French cleric [[:fr:Charles Maignen|Charles Maignen]] (article in French) of subjectivism and [[crypto-Protestant]]ism.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NwjwhUDwHwEC&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=%22Maignen%27s+accusations+of+subjectivism%22&source=bl&ots=tDiOBjVSN8&sig=ACfU3U1jTChgzcAuV4UONI2ukcjUdN9TsQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS38CZ_MPhAhVW1IMKHSAJCf8Q6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Maignen's%20accusations%20of%20subjectivism%22&f=false Hecker Studies: Essays on the Thought of Isaac Hecker] edited by John Farina, 1983, published by The Missionary Society of St. Paul</ref> Additionally some who sympathized with Hecker in France were accused of [[Isaac Hecker#Hecker and Americanism|Americanism]]. ====Nuns and sisters==== {{main|Catholic sisters and nuns in the United States}} [[Nun]]s and [[Religious sister (Catholic)|sisters]] played a major role in American religion, education, nursing and social work since the early 19th century. In Catholic Europe, convents were heavily endowed over the centuries, and were sponsored by the aristocracy. But there were very few rich American Catholics, and no aristocrats. Religious orders were founded by entrepreneurial women who saw a need and an opportunity, and were staffed by devout women from poor families. The numbers grew rapidly, from 900 sisters in 15 communities in 1840, 50,000 in 170 congregations in 1900, and 135,000 in 300 different congregations by 1930. Starting in 1820, the sisters always outnumbered the priests and brothers.<ref>James M. O'Toole, ''The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America'' (2008) p 104</ref> Their numbers peaked in 1965 at 180,000 then plunged to 56,000 in 2010. Many women left their orders, and few new members were added.<ref>Margaret M. McGuinness, ''Called to Serve'' (2013), ch 8</ref> [[File:GibbonsPhotoStanding.jpg|thumb|right|[[James Gibbons]] (1834–1921), cardinal archbishop of Baltimore, was the widely respected leader of American Catholics.]] On April 8, 2008, [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[William Levada]], [[prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] under [[Pope Benedict XVI]], met with the [[Leadership Conference of Women Religious]] leaders in Rome and communicated that the CDF would conduct a doctrinal assessment of the LCWR, expressing concern that the nuns were expressing radical feminist views. According to Laurie Goodstein, the investigation, which was viewed by many U.S. Catholics as a "vexing and unjust inquisition of the sisters who ran the church's schools, hospitals and charities", was ultimately closed in 2015 by Pope Francis.<ref name="Goodstein2015">{{cite web|location=New York|publisher=The New York Times|website=nytimes.com|last=Goodstein|first=Laurie|title=Vatican ends battle with U.S. Catholic nuns' group|date=April 16, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/us/catholic-church-ends-takeover-of-leadership-conference-of-women-religious.html}}</ref> ===20th–21st centuries=== {{Main|20th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States}} In the era of intense emigration from the 1840s to 1914, bishops often set up separate parishes for major ethnic groups, from Ireland, Germany, Poland, French Canada and Italy. 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]], to meet the needs of Germans and Irish, is illustrative. By the beginning of the 20th century, approximately one-sixth of the population of the United States was Catholic. Modern Catholic immigrants come to the United States from the [[Philippines]], [[Poland]] and [[Latin America]], especially [[Mexico]] and [[Central America]]. This multiculturalism and diversity has influenced the conduct of Catholicism in the United States. For example, most dioceses offer [[Masses (liturgy)|Mass]] in a number of languages, and an increasing number of parishes offer Masses in the official language of the church, Latin, due to its universal nature. Sociologist [[Andrew Greeley]], an ordained Catholic priest at the University of Chicago, undertook a series of national surveys of Catholics in the late 20th century. He published hundreds of books and articles, both technical and popular. His biographer summarizes his interpretation: :He argued for the continued salience of ethnicity in American life and the distinctiveness of the Catholic religious imagination. Catholics differed from other Americans, he explained in a variety of publications, by their tendency to think in "sacramental" terms, imagining God as present in a world that was revelatory rather than bleak. The poetic elements in the Catholic tradition—its stories, imagery, and rituals—kept most Catholics in the fold, according to Greeley, whatever their disagreements with particular aspects of church discipline or doctrine. Despite the unchanging nature of church doctrine, Greeley insisted that Humanae Vitae, the 1968 papal encyclical upholding the Catholic ban on contraception is solely responsible for the sharp decline in weekly Mass attendance between 1968 and 1975.<ref>Leslie Woodcock Tentler, "Greeley, Andrew Moran" [http://www.anb.org/articles/08/08-02390.html in ''American National Biography Online'' April 2016; Access Apr 30 2017]</ref> In 1965, 71% of Catholics attended Mass regularly.<ref name="cch">{{Cite book |first = Tom |last = Peterson |title = Catholics come home |publisher = Image |date = 2013 |location = New York City |pages = 23|isbn = 978-0-385-34717-4 }}</ref><!-- regularly means at least weekly. --> [[File:Bishop Fulton J. Sheen 1956.JPG|thumb|300px|right|Bishop [[Fulton J. Sheen]] became a media personality with his own television show ''[[Life Is Worth Living]]'' which aired during the 1950s, as the church in the United States attempted to present its message before a wider audience in the [[mass media]] age.]] In the later 20th century "[...] the Catholic Church in the United States became the subject of controversy due to allegations of [[Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States|clerical child abuse of children and adolescents]], of episcopal negligence in arresting these crimes, and of numerous civil suits that cost Catholic dioceses hundreds of millions of dollars in damages."<ref>Patrick W. Carey, ''Catholics in America. A History'', Westport, Connecticut and London: Praeger, 2004, p. 141</ref> Because of this, higher scrutiny and governance as well as protective policies and diocesan investigation into seminaries have been enacted to correct these former abuses of power, and safeguard parishioners and the church from further abuses and scandals. One initiative is the "[[National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management]]" (NLRCM), a lay-led group born in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal and dedicated to bringing better administrative practices to 194 dioceses that include 19,000 parishes nationwide with some 35,000 [[Lay Ecclesial Ministry|lay ecclesial ministers]] who log 20 hours or more a week in these parishes.<ref>David Gibson, "Declaration of interdependence," ''The Tablet'' 4 July 2009, 8–9.</ref> <!-- In 2008, 17% of Catholics attended Mass regularly. -->{{when|date=May 2017}}<!-- regularly means at least weekly.-->According to a 2015 study by Pew Researchers, 39% of Catholics attend church at least once a week and 40%, once or twice a month.<ref>"Attendance at Religious Service" in Religious Landscape Study, Pew Research, May 12, 2015.</ref> Although the issue of trusteeism was mostly settled in the 19th century, there have been some related issues. In 2005, an interdict was issued to board members of [[St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (St. Louis, Missouri)]] in an attempt to get them to turn over the church property to the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis]]. In 2006, a priest was accused of stealing $1.4 million from his parish, prompting a debate over [[Connecticut Raised Bill 1098]] as a means of forcing the Catholic church to manage money differently. Related to issues of asset ownership, some parishes have been liquidated and the [[Parish in the Catholic Church#Opposition to suppressions|assets taken by the diocese]] instead of being distributed to nearby parishes, which in violation of church financial rules. In 2009 [[John Micklethwait]], editor of ''[[The Economist]]'' and co-author of ''[[God is Back|God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World]]'', said that American Catholicism, which he describes in his book as "arguably the most striking Evangelical success story of the second half of the nineteenth century," has competed quite happily "without losing any of its basic characteristics." It has thrived in America's "pluralism."<ref>Austin Ivereigh, "God Makes a Comeback: An Interview with John Micklethwait, ''America'', 5 October 2009, 13–14.</ref> In 2011, an estimated 26 million American Catholics were "[[Lapsed Catholic|fallen-away]]", that is, not practicing their faith. Some religious commentators commonly refer to them<!---not quite accurately since they seem to be outnumbered by Baptists--> as "the second largest religious denomination in the United States."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://chnonline.org/special-sections/parenting/10172-why-wont-my-kids-go-to-church.html |title=Why won't my kids go to church |author=Karen Mahoney |date=February 23, 2011 |publisher=Archdiocese of Milwaukee Catholic Herald }}</ref> Recent Pew Research survey results in 2014 show about 31.7% of American adults were raised Catholic, while 41% from among that group no longer identify as Catholic.<ref name=pew/> In a 2015 survey by researchers at [[Georgetown University]], Americans who self identify as Catholic, including those who do not attend Mass regularly, numbered 81.6 million or 25% of the population, and 68.1 million or 20% of the American population are Catholics tied to a specific parish. About 25% of US Catholics say they attend Masses once a week or more, and about 38% went at least once a month. The study found that the number of US Catholics has increased by 3 to 6% each decade since 1965, and that the Catholic Church is "the most diverse in terms of race and ethnicity in the US," with Hispanics accounting for 38% of Catholics and blacks and Asians 3% each.<ref name=manilatimes_afp/> The Catholic Church in the US represents perhaps "the most multi-ethnic organization of any kind, and so is a major laboratory for cross-cultural cooperation and cross-cultural communication completely within the nation's borders."<ref>Mark A. Noll. THE NEW SHAPE OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY (Downers Grove, IL.: IVP Academic, 2009), 74</ref> It is as if it wishes to forge a broader ecclesial identity to give newcomers a more inclusive welcome, similar to the aspirations of 19th century church leaders like Archbishops John Ireland and James Gibbons who "wanted Catholic immigrants to become fully American, rather than 'strangers in a strange land.' "<ref>Arthur Meyers, "Social Justice Warrior," Commonweal, July 6, 2018.</ref> Only 2 percent of American Catholics go to confession on a regular basis, while three-quarters of them go to confession once a year or less often; a valid confession is required by the Church after committing [[mortal sin]] in order to return to the State of Grace, necessary to receive Holy Communion.<ref>[http://religiondispatches.org/american-sin-why-pope-francis-mercy-is-not-our-mercy/ AMERICAN SIN: WHY POPE FRANCIS' MERCY IS NOT OUR MERCY] Religion Dispatches, February 8, 2016</ref> As one of the precepts of the church, it is also required that every Catholic makes a valid confession at least once a year.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P75.HTM The Precepts of the Church] Catechism of the Catholic Church</ref> According to Matthew Bunsen’s analysis of a Real Clear poll of American Catholics in late 2019: :Catholicism has been battered by the winds of secularism, materialism, and relativism. Failures in catechesis and formation have created wide gaps in practice and belief that stretch now into every aspect of Catholic life.<ref> Matthew Bunson, [https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/12/11/ewtnrealclear_poll_us_catholics_open_to_reelecting_trump_141926.html?mc_cid=a3b10cd93e&mc_eid=3c4e629a8d “EWTN/RealClear Poll: U.S. Catholics Open to Reelecting Trump” ‘’Real Clear Politics’’ Dec 11, 2019]. The poll of 1,223 Catholics was taken in November 2019> </ref> The RealClear poll data indicates that the Latino element has now reached 37 percent of the Catholic population, and growing. It is 60 percent Democratic, while the non-Latinos are split about 50-50 politically. Although many Americans still identify as Catholics, their religious participation rates are declining. Today only 39% of all Catholics go to Mass at least weekly. Nearly two-thirds of Catholics say that their trust in the church leadership has been undermined by the clergy sex abuse crisis. Nevertheless, 86% of all Catholics still consider religion important in their own lives.<ref> Bunsen, 2019</ref> ==Some notable American Catholics== {{for|living US bishops|List of Catholic bishops in the United States}} {{see|Category:American Roman Catholics}} *[[Amy Coney Barrett]]<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Allyson|last=Escobar|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/07/18/why-do-catholics-make-majority-supreme-court|title=Why do Catholics make up a majority of the Supreme Court?|magazine=America: The Jesuit Review|date=September 21, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922052728/https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/07/18/why-do-catholics-make-majority-supreme-court|archive-date=September 22, 2020|access-date=December 14, 2020}}</ref> *[[Joe Biden]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Parishioners not surprised to see Biden at usual Mass |author=Gibson, Ginger |newspaper=[[The News Journal]] |date=August 25, 2008 |page=A.12 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/delawareonline/access/1742751081.html?FMT=ABS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601093036/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/delawareonline/access/1742751081.html?FMT=ABS |archive-date=June 1, 2013 }}</ref> *[[William F. Buckley Jr.]]<ref>Phelan, Matthew (2011-02-28) [http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/28/seymour_hersh_whowhatwhy/index.html Seymour Hersh and the men who want him committed] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110302123501/http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/28/seymour_hersh_whowhatwhy/index.html |date=March 2, 2011}}, ''[[Salon.com]]''</ref> *[[Jeb Bush]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Jeb Bush, Catholic Convert. Will His Brother Convert? |url=http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=34357 |date=September 2, 2009 |publisher=Catholic.org |access-date=August 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905224016/http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=34357 |archive-date=September 5, 2012 }}</ref> *[[Charles Carroll of Carrollton]]<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic24philuoft#page/n189/mode/2up ''"Charles Carroll, of Carrollton,"''] The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXIV, 1899.</ref> *[[Daniel Carroll]] *[[John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore)|John Carroll]] *[[Stephen Colbert]]<ref name=TimeOut>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.timeout.com/newyork/DetailsAr.do?file=hotseat/506/506.hotseat.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820014908/http://www.timeout.com/newyork/DetailsAr.do?file=hotseat%2F506%2F506.hotseat.html |archive-date=August 20, 2006 |title=Joyce Words |first=David |last=Cote |magazine=[[Time Out New York]] |date=June 9, 2005 |access-date=July 30, 2008 |url-status=dead}} Via the [[Internet Archive]].</ref> *[[Jimmy Fallon]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136462013/late-night-thank-you-notes-from-jimmy-fallon|title=Late Night 'Thank You Notes' From Jimmy Fallon|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2020-03-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.beliefnet.com/celebrity-faith-database/f/jimmy-fallon.aspx|title=Jimmy Fallon|publisher=Beliefnet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://churchpop.com/2014/11/22/bill-murray-jimmy-fallon-miss-old-latin-mass/|title=Bill Murray and Jimmy Fallon Miss the Old Latin Mass|date=22 November 2014}}</ref> *[[Nick Fuentes|Nicholas J. Fuentes]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/11/22/the-conservative-establishments-nightmare-is-only-just-beginning/|title=The Conservative Establishment's Nightmare Is Only Just Beginning|last1=Cortellessa|first1=Eric|last2=Sheffield|first2=Matthew|date=November 22, 2019|website=Washington Monthly - Politics|language=en-US|access-date=April 30, 2020|archive-date=December 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221002512/https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/11/22/the-conservative-establishments-nightmare-is-only-just-beginning/|url-status=live|quote=Fuentes, who identifies as a traditional Catholic and is partially of Hispanic descent...}}</ref> *[[Melinda Gates]]<ref>Paul Harris, "A woman of Substance," ''THE GUARDIAN'' (UK, US edition), Nov. 15, 2006.</ref> *[[Lady Gaga|Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga)]]<ref> {{•}}{{Cite web|publisher=ChurchPOP|editor= ChurchPOP Editor|date=May 10, 2016|quote=Thank you Father Duffell for a beautiful homily as always and lunch at my pop’s restaurant. I was so moved today when you said.. ‘The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but the food that God gives us.’ – Father Duffell, Blessed Sacrament Church. Nourishment. [sic]|url=https://churchpop.com/2016/05/10/lady-gaga-thanks-priest-beautiful-homily-eucharist-facebook/|title=Lady Gaga Thanks Priest for "Beautiful Homily" About the Eucharist on Facebook}}<br> {{•}}{{Cite web|editor=Crux Staff|date=May 11, 2016|publisher=[[Crux (online newspaper)|Crux]]|quote= the American songwriter, singer and actress has also posted two pictures of herself attending a Catholic Mass.|url=https://cruxnow.com/church/2016/05/lady-gagas-mass-pics-and-posts-on-faith-stir-catholic-reaction/|title=Lady Gaga's Mass pics and posts on faith stir Catholic reaction}} <br> {{•}}{{Cite web|editor= ChurchPOP Editor|date=Sep 18, 2017|publisher=ChurchPOP|url=https://churchpop.com/2017/09/18/lady-gaga-posts-photo-of-her-praying-rosary-with-explanation-for-tour-cancelation/|title=Lady Gaga Posts Photo of Herself Praying Rosary with Explanation for Tour Cancelation}}<br> {{•}}{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Pete|isbn=9780429994937|publisher=[[Routledge]]|title=Celebrity Worship|year=2019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtW_DwAAQBAJ&q=lady+gaga+catholic&pg=PT161|quote=Her identification as a Catholic, while advocating progressive viewpoints, has ensured that Lady Gaga has often been criticised by religious commentators.}}</ref> *[[Brett Kavanaugh]]<ref name="USA Today">{{cite news |title=Five things to know about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/09/supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-five-things/770210002|access-date=December 16, 2018 |work=USA Today |date=July 9, 2018}}</ref> *[[John F. Kennedy]]<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html | title = Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association | access-date =September 17, 2007 | last = Kennedy | first = John F. | date = June 18, 2002 | work = American Rhetoric | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802122054/http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html | archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref> *[[Jimmy Kimmel]]<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=ChurchPOP|quote=Kimmel was raised Catholic, was an altar server, and says he is a practicing Catholic.|url=https://churchpop.com/2017/12/07/jimmy-kimmel-defends-his-catholic-faith-against-attack-from-roy-moore/|title=Jimmy Kimmel Defends His Catholic Faith Against Attack from Roy Moore|date=7 December 2017}}</ref> *[[Toni Morrison]]<ref>Emma Brockes, "Interview: I want to feel what I feel. Even if it's not happiness," ''THE GUARDIAN'', April 13, 2012. </ref> *[[Gavin Newsom]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-03-03/bay-area/17287812_1_scientology-press-briefings-human-rights|title=Down by the Bay/A blues story with all the requisite elements: love, booze and death|first=Rachel|last=Gordon|work=The San Francisco Chronicle|date=March 3, 2006}}</ref> *[[Conan O'Brien]]<ref>Stated on ''[[Inside the Actors Studio]]'', 2009. also {{cite news |last1=Doyle |first1=Patrick |title=The Last Word: Conan O'Brien on Catholicism, 'The Simpsons' and Life As Late Night's Elder Statesman |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features/conan-obrien-late-night-simpsons-catholicism-780706/ |access-date=January 21, 2019 |work=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=January 21, 2019}}</ref> *[[Nancy Pelosi]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Nancy Pelosi: My Catholic faith 'compels me' to support gay marriage |work=The Washington Post: On Faith |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/nancy-pelosi-my-catholic-faith-compels-me-to-support-gay-marriage/2012/05/11/gIQAApuBIU_blog.html |date=May 11, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401080335/http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/archbishop-pelosis-comments-on-abortion-are-false-2008-08-25.html |archive-date=April 1, 2009 | url=http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/archbishop-pelosis-comments-on-abortion-are-false-2008-08-25.html | title=Archbishop: Pelosi comments on abortion are false |work=The Hill |date=August 25, 2008|access-date=May 24, 2019}}</ref> *[[John Glover Roberts]]<ref>Todd S. Purdum, Jodi Wilgoren, and Pam Belluck, "Court Nominee's Life Is Rooted in Faith and Respect for Law," ''New York Times'', July 21, 2005.</ref> *[[Marco Rubio]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/us/27beliefs.html | title =Marco Rubio: Catholic or Protestant? | author =Mark Oppenheimer | work =nytimes.com | date =November 26, 2010}}</ref> *[[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Maria Shriver Ends Her Silence On Husband's Campaign |publisher=NBC |url=http://www.knbc.com/politics/2463270/detail.html |date=September 8, 2003 |access-date=April 18, 2008 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> *[[Martin Sheen]]<ref name=lat>{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-chamaco-20100825,0,2597362.story |title='Chamaco' a one-two punch of boxing, bilingualism |date=August 25, 2010 |first=Reed |last=Johnson |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=September 9, 2010 |quote=The actor born Ramón Antonio Gerard Estévez is a devout Roman Catholic}}</ref> *[[Roger B. Taney]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bunson |first1=Matthew |title=Catholics and the Supreme Court |url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholics-and-the-supreme-court |access-date=8 November 2018 |publisher=National Catholic Register |date=20 March 2017}}</ref> *[[Clarence Thomas]]<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Escobar| first=Allyson| date=July 18, 2018| title=Why do Catholics make up a majority of the Supreme Court?| url=https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/07/18/why-do-catholics-make-majority-supreme-court| magazine=[[America (magazine)|America]]| publisher=America Press ([[Society of Jesus]])| location=New York, New York| access-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref> *[[Melania Trump]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/elizabeth_wellington/melania-trump-catholic-pope-visit-meaning-20170525.html |title=Melania Trump only the second Catholic first lady to meet a pope |last=Wellington |first=Elizabeth |date=May 25, 2017 |publisher=[[Philadelphia Media Network]] |access-date=May 25, 2017 |quote=Trump’s father was a member of the [[League of Communists of Slovenia|Communist Party]] in [[Socialist Republic of Slovenia|Slovenia]], which meant the family were officially atheists. Donald Trump is Presbyterian; the couple married in an Episcopal church.}}</ref> *[[Mark Wahlberg]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://au.christiantoday.com/article/mark-wahlberg-talks-central-role-of-faith-and-prayer-in-his-daily-life/12692.htm|title=Mark Wahlberg talks central role of faith and prayer in his daily life|first=Stoyan |last=Zaimov|publisher=[[Christian Today]] Australia|date=January 18, 2012|access-date=July 28, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826174701/http://christiantoday.com.au/article/mark-wahlberg-talks-central-role-of-faith-and-prayer-in-his-daily-life/12692.htm | archive-date=August 26, 2014}}</ref> *[[John Wayne]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pw/John_Wayne.html |title=The religion of John Wayne, actor |publisher=Adherents.com |access-date=October 20, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=9e13fe4d-3aac-4aec-abab-032cc267b317 |title=My granddaddy John Wayne |work=California Catholic Daily |first=David |last=Kerr |date=October 4, 2011 |access-date=October 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006041651/http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=9e13fe4d-3aac-4aec-abab-032cc267b317 |archive-date=October 6, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.osv.com/osvnewsweekly/byissue/article/tabid/735/artmid/13636/articleid/14534/everyone-called-him-duke-john-waynes-conversion-to-catholicism.aspx|title=Everyone called him 'Duke': John Wayne's conversion to Catholicism|last=Company|first=Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Publishing|website=Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Publishing Company|access-date=2018-06-10}}</ref> ===Servants of God and those declared venerable, beatified, and canonized saints=== {{Refimprove section|date=April 2020}}{{for|a full list of Servants of God and other open causes|List of American saints and beatified people}} The following are some notable Americans declared as Servants of God, venerables, beatified, and canonized saints: '''Servants of God''' {{div col|colwidth=22em}} :*[[Thea Bowman]] :*[[Simon Bruté]] :*[[Vincent Robert Capodanno]] :*[[Walter Ciszek]] :*[[Terence Cooke]] :*[[Dorothy Day]] :*[[Black Elk]] <ref>Jon Sweeney, "The saint who danced for Queen Victoria," ''The Tablet'', 23, January, 2021, 10-11.</ref> :*[[Demetrius Gallitzin]] :*[[John Hardon]] :*[[Isaac Hecker]] :*[[Emil Kapaun]] :*[[Eusebio Francisco Kino]] :*[[Rose Hawthorne Lathrop]] :*[[James Miller (De La Salle Christian Brother)|James Miller]] :*[[Joseph Muzquiz]] :*[[Frank Parater]] :*[[Félix Varela]] :*[[Society of the Atonement| Paul Wattson]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fatherpaulofgraymoor.org/|title=Prayer Intentions - Father Paul of Graymoor Guild|website=www.fatherpaulofgraymoor.org}}</ref> :*[[Annella Zervas]] {{div col end}} '''Venerables''' :*[[Nelson Baker]] :*[[Frederic Baraga]] :*[[Cornelia Connelly]] :*[[Henriette DeLille]] :*[[Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli]] :*[[Patrick Peyton]]<ref>Facebook.com/HCFM.org/</ref> :*[[Aloysius Schwartz]] :*[[Fulton J. Sheen]] :*[[Augustus Tolton]] :*[[Pierre Toussaint]] '''Beatified''' :*[[Solanus Casey]] :*[[Teresa Demjanovich]] :*[[Michael J. McGivney]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kofc.org/en/events/father-mcgivney-beatification/index.html|title=Beatification of Father Michael McGivney &#124; Knights of Columbus|website=www.kofc.org}}</ref> :*[[Carlos Manuel Rodriguez]] :*[[Stanley Rother]] :*[[Francis Xavier Seelos]] '''Saints''' {{div col|colwidth=22em}} :*[[Frances Xavier Cabrini]] :*[[Marianne Cope]] :*[[Jean de Lalande]] :*[[Father Damien|Damien De Veuster]] :*[[Katharine Drexel]] :*[[Rose Philippine Duchesne]] :*[[René Goupil]] :*[[Mother Théodore Guérin]] :*[[Isaac Jogues]] :*[[John Neumann]] :*[[Fray Junípero Serra|Junípero Serra]] :*[[Elizabeth Ann Seton]] :*[[Kateri Tekakwitha]] {{div col end}} ==Top pilgrimage destinations in the United States== * [[National Shrine of The Divine Mercy (Stockbridge, Massachusetts)]] * [[National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa]] (Doylestown, Pennsylvania) * [[Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe]] (La Crosse, Wisconsin) * [[National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi]] (San Francisco, California) * [[Saint Anthony's Chapel (Pittsburgh)]], Pennsylvania * [[National Blue Army Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary]] ([[Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey]]) * [[National Shrine of the North American Martyrs]] (Auriesville, New York) * [[Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary]] (Baltimore, Maryland) * [[El Santuario de Chimayo]] (Chimayo, New Mexico; north of Santa Fe) * [[Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton]] (Emmitsburg, Maryland) * [[Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament]] of Our Lady of the Angels (Hanceville, Alabama) * [[Our Lady of Victory Basilica (Lackawanna, New York)|Basilica of Our Lady of Victory]] (Lackawanna, New York) * [[National Shrine of Saint John Neumann]] (in St. Peter the Apostle Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) * [[Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception]] (Washington, D.C.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://religioustravelplanningguide.com/10-top-catholic-shrines-in-the-u-s/|title=10 Top Catholic Shrines in the U.S.|date=February 15, 2012}}</ref> <br /> ==See also== {{Portal|Catholicism|Saints|United States}} {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * [[History of the Catholic Church in the United States]] * [[Catholic Home Missions]] * [[Catholic Church by country]] * [[List of Catholic dioceses in the United States]] * [[List of American Catholic priests]] * [[List of Catholic authors]] (Lists include American Catholics [Roman/Latin/Western and Eastern Catholic]) * [[List of converts to the Catholic Church]] * [[List of Catholic scientists]] * [[List of Catholic clergy scientists]] * [[List of Catholic musicians]] * [[Christianity in the United States]] {{div col end}} <!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order --> ==References== {{Ibid|date=January 2019}} {{Reflist|30em}} ==Further reading== * Abell, Aaron. ''American Catholicism and Social Action: A Search for Social Justice, 1865–1950'' (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1960). * Bales, Susan Ridgley. ''When I Was a Child: Children's Interpretations of First Communion'' (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2005). * Carroll, Michael P. ''American Catholics in the Protestant Imagination: Rethinking the Academic Study of Religion'' (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). * Coburn, Carol K. and Martha Smith. ''Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture and American Life, 1836–1920'' (1999) pp 129–58 [https://www.amazon.com/Spirited-Lives-Catholic-American-1836-1920/dp/0807847747/ excerpt and text search] * Curan, Robert Emmett. ''Shaping American Catholicism: Maryland and New York, 1805–1915.'' Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 2012. * D'Antonio, William V., James D. Davidson, Dean R. Hoge, and Katherine Meyer. ''American Catholics: Gender, Generation, and Commitment'' (Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor Visitor Publishing Press, 2001). * Deck, Allan Figueroa, S.J. ''The Second Wave: Hispanic Ministry and the Evangelization of Cultures'' (New York: Paulist, 1989). * Dolan, Jay P. ''The Immigrant Church: New York Irish and German Catholics, 1815–1865'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975). * Dolan, Jay P. ''In Search of an American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in Tension'' (2003) * Donovan, Grace. "Immigrant Nuns: Their Participation in the Process of Americanization," in ''Catholic Historical Review'' 77, 1991, 194–208. * Ellis, J.T. ''American Catholicism'' 2nd ed.(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969). * Ellis, J.T. ''The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons'' (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1963) * Finke, Roger. "An Orderly Return to Tradition: Explaining Membership Growth in Catholic Religious Orders," in ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion '', 36, 1997, 218–30. * Fogarty, Gerald P., S.J. ''Commonwealth Catholicism: A History of the Catholic Church in Virginia'', {{ISBN|978-0-268-02264-8}}. * Garcia, Angel. ''The Kingdom Began In Puerto Rico: Neil Connolly's Priesthood In The South Bronx'' (New York: Fordham University Press, 2020). * Garraghan, Gilbert J. ''The Jesuits of the Middle United States'' Vol. II (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1984). * Greeley, Andrew. "The Demography of American Catholics, 1965–1990" in ''The Sociology of Andrew Greeley'' (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994). * Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo. ''The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995). * Horgan, Paul. ''Lamy of Santa Fe'' (Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1975). * Jonas, Thomas J. ''The Divided Mind: American Catholic Evangelists in the 1890s'' (New York: Garland Press, 1988). * Marty, Martin E. ''Modern American Religion, Vol. 1: The Irony of It All, 1893–1919'' (1986); ''Modern American Religion. Vol. 2: The Noise of Conflict, 1919–1941'' (1991); ''Modern American Religion, Volume 3: Under God, Indivisible, 1941–1960'' (1999). * McDermott, Scott. ''Charles Carroll of Carrollton—Faithful Revolutionary'' {{ISBN|1-889334-68-5}}. * McGuinness Margaret M. ''Called to Serve: A History of Nuns in America'' (New York University Press, 2013) 266 pages; [https://www.amazon.com/Called-Serve-History-Nuns-America/dp/0814795560/ excerpt and text search] * McGuinness Margaret M. and James T. Fisher (eds.) ''Roman Catholicism in the United States: A Thematic History.'' (New York: Fordham University Press, 2019). * McKevitt, Gerald. ''Brokers of Culture: Italian Jesuits in the American West, 1848–1919'' (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006). * McMullen, Joanne Halleran and Jon Parrish Peede, eds. ''Inside the Church of Flannery O'Connor: Sacrament, Sacramental, and the Sacred in Her Fiction'' (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2007). * Maynard, Theodore ''The Story of American Catholicism'', Volumes I and II (New York: Macmillan Company, 1960). * Morris, Charles R. ''American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America's Most Powerful Church'' (1998), a popular history * O'Toole, James M. ''The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America'' (2008) * Poyo, Gerald E. ''Cuban Catholics in the United States, 1960–1980: Exile and Integration'' (Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 2007). * Sanders, James W. ''The Education of an urban Minority: Catholics in Chicago, 1833–1965'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977). * Schroth, Raymond A. ''The American Jesuits: A History'' (New York: New York University Press, 2007). * Schultze, George E. ''Strangers in a Foreign Land: The Organizing of Catholic Latinos in the United States'' (Lanham, Md:Lexington, 2007). * Stepsis, Ursula and Dolores Liptak. ''Pioneer Healers: The History of Women Religious in American Health Care'' (1989) 375pp * Walch, Timothy. ''Parish School: American Catholic Parochial Education from Colonial Times to the Present'' (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1996). * Weber, David J. ''The Spanish Frontier in North America'' (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992). ===Historiography=== * Dries, Angelyn. "'Perils of Ocean and Wilderness[: A Field Guide to North American Catholic History." ''Catholic Historical Review'' 102.2 (2016) pp 251–83. * Gleason, Philip. "The Historiography of American Catholicism as Reflected in The Catholic Historical Review, 1915–2015." ''Catholic Historical Review'' 101#2 (2015) pp: 156–222. [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/catholic_historical_review/v101/101.2S.gleason.html online] * Thomas, J. Douglas. "A Century of American Catholic History." ''US Catholic Historian'' (1987): 25–49. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25153781 in JSTOR] ===Primary sources=== * Ellis, John Tracy. ''Documents of American Catholic History'' 2nd ed. (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1956). ==External links== * [http://www.usccb.org/ United States Conference of Catholic Bishops] * [http://www.earthhealing.info/catholicstats.pdf Global Catholic Statistics: 1905 and Today] by Albert J. Fritsch, SJ, PhD * [http://www.vividmaps.com/2017/09/the-percentage-of-catholics-in-us-1890.html The percentage of Catholics in the U.S. (1890–2010)] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20180820080454/http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html Largest religious groups in the United States] {{Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces in the United States}} {{North America in topic|Catholic Church in|groupstyle=background-color:gold|titlestyle=background-color:gold}} {{Demographics of the United States}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in the United States}} [[Category:Catholic Church in the United States| ]] [[Category:Catholic Church by country|United States]]'