The Progress of the Church in the United States [pp. 1-19]

in the United States.
establishment of the kind in the United
States, and derives from its connection
with the Sulpitian house in Paris special advantages for superintending the
education of young ecclesiastics, and
training accomplished ministers for
the sanctuary. Kentucky, likewise,
has some important and noteworthy
institutions, such as the seminary of
St. Thomas and the college of St.
Mary, both of which are in high repute
at the West, and the magnificent Abbey
of Our Lady of La Trappe at New
Haven, with sixty-four religious, eighteen of whom are choir-monks. The
Kentucky Catholics deserve a few
words of special mention. The descendants, for the most part, of the
first settlers of Maryland, who scattered,
about a century ago, in order to people
new countries, they partake in an eminent degree of the peculiar characteristics which have given to Kentuckians
a reputation as the flower of the American people. They are more decidedly
American than the Catholics of any
other district, and they are remarkable
for their homogeneousness, their education, and their attachment to the
faith and traditions of the Church.
The most important and numerous
Catholic population is found in the
state of New York, where the faithful
amount to no fewer than 800,000.
They have here religious establishments of every kind. This condition
of things is the result, in great measure, of the well-known ability of Archbishop Hughes, whose death has left a
void which the American clergy will
find it hard to fill. His reputation
was not confined to the Empire City.
He was as well known all over the
Union as at his own see, and was
everywhere regarded as one of the
great men of the country. Although
the progress of the faith in New York
has been owing in a very great degree
to immigration, it is in this city and in
Boston that conversions have been
most numerous; and in effecting these,
Archbishop Hughes had a most im portantshare. Itis not surprising, then,
that his death should have caused a
profound sensation in the city, and
that all religious denominations should
have united in testifying respect for
his memory.
It is difficult to apply a statistical
table to the study of the question of
conversions. These are mental operations of infinite variety, both in their
origin and in their ways; for the methods of Providence are as many and as
diverse as the shades of human thought
upon which they act. It may be remarked, however, that the different
Protestant sects furnish very unequal
contingents to the little army of souls
daily returning to the true fabith; and
it is a curious fact that the two sects
which furnish the most are the Episcopalians, who, in their forms and traditions, approach nearest to the Catholic Church, and the Unitarians, who
go to the very opposite extreme, and
appear to push their philosophical and
rationalistic principles almost beyond
the pale of Christianity. These two
sects generally comprise the most
enlightened and intellectual people of
North America. On the other hand,
the denominations which embrace the
more ignorant portions of the population (such as the Baptists, the Wesleyan Methodists, etc., etc.) furnish, in
proportion to their numbers, but few
converts. The principal Catholic review in the United States (Brownson's
Review, published in New York) is
edited by a well-known convert, whose
name it bears, and who was formerly a
Unitarian minister.
Further North-in New England there is another Catholic group, of
recent origin, formed of the Puritan
states of Connecticut, Massachusetts,
and Rhode Island. The first see here
was established by Bishop Chevertis
only sixty years ago. These bishop rics, however, have already acquired
importance; for in the diocese of HIart ford the Catholics are now sixteen
per cent. of the whole population, and
the rapidity of their increase and the
completeness of their church organiza tion give us ground for bright hopes
of their future progress. Immigration
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