How The Faith Is Protected
In 1928 Bertrand Russell said in the course of an address to the British Rationalist Press Association that “in fifty years the Roman Catholic Church will dominate America.” For once I fail to follow the reasoning of the distinguished mathematician.
If we take the estimate of the number of their members which the clergy supplied to the public authorities we find that in 1900 they claimed to be 15.7 of the entire population, in 1910 they had sunk to 14.1, and in 1920 they claimed to be 16.9, in 1930 16.2, and in 1940, according to the figures supplied to the Federal Council of the Churches, 15.9. Instead of a stately and Convincing growth toward the necessary 60 or 70 per cent, much less abnormally rapid growth, we have here a curve of progress that gets back to its starting point in nearly half a century.
It is not necessary to add that until 1930 the growth of population was entirely differ¬ ent from that in the other countries, for from 1900 until that date there were about 17,000,000 immigrants, and more than half of these were Catholics: a fact strangely overlooked by all writers who are moved to make profound observations when they see the decennial increases of the Catholic population.
On the other hand, even many Americans will not know that not only has the flood of immigration subsided to a modest stream but there is evidence, which is accepted by Catholic authorities, that the Catholic birth rate is being deliberately checked by parents. About 80 per cent of Catholics live in cities or towns, and in even the most Catholic of these, there has been a notable drop in the birth rate. From 1920 to 1938 it sank in the towns and cities of Massachusetts, where Catholics are strongest, from 23.7 to 13.8. In New York City it fell from 23.4 to 14.4. Commenting on these figures the Catholic Commonweal said:
The urban Irish have long since stopped even reproducing themselves, and the urban Italians and Slavs are rapidly fol¬ lowing their example. From the temperate language of the Catholic writer you would not suspect that his Church puts the use of contraceptives on much the same level as murder but, of course, he is distracting attention from an obvious inference. It is one more proof, like that I gave in the last book, of a serious defection from the Church.
On the other hand, even many Americans will not know that not only has the flood of immigration subsided to a modest stream but there is evidence, which is accepted by Catholic authorities, that the Catholic birth rate is being deliberately checked by parents. About 80 per cent of Catholics live in cities or towns, and in even the most Catholic of these, there has been a notable drop in the birth rate. From 1920 to 1938 it sank in the towns and cities of Massachusetts, where Catholics are strongest, from 23.7 to 13.8. In New York City it fell from 23.4 to 14.4. Commenting on these figures the Catholic Commonweal said:
The urban Irish have long since stopped even reproducing themselves, and the urban Italians and Slavs are rapidly fol¬ lowing their example. From the temperate language of the Catholic writer you would not suspect that his Church puts the use of contraceptives on much the same level as murder but, of course, he is distracting attention from an obvious inference. It is one more proof, like that I gave in the last book, of a serious defection from the Church.
However, what we have to note here is that the Catholic body as estimated by the authorities is losing its treasured advantage of a full birth rate as well as the advantage of immigration. If we further recall that they claim only about 20,000 to 25,000 converts a year we feel that even Catholic arithmetic will be severely strained to show the faintest glimmer of hope of ever becoming the majority.
Author: Joseph McCabe
Publication Date: 1942
Download How The Faith Is Protected- Joseph McCabe 12 MB
Author: Joseph McCabe
Publication Date: 1942
Download How The Faith Is Protected- Joseph McCabe 12 MB