What parts of the USA are predomintly Catholic

  • Thread starter Thread starter SeanF1989
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Mike30 said:
They actually have a Rosary said every morning at about 5am in Cajun French which is on the radio out of Lafayette, Louisiana.👍 In New Orleans three of the major holidays are Mardi Gras, whic ends at midnight on Ash Wednesday and is a pre lenten festival, St. Patricks day and St Josephs day which is a wonderful holiday to experience. If you are ever there rty to find a house that has a St Josephs Altar advertised. You will absolutely love it. Guaranteed.
Click to expand...
St Joseph Altars (or is it St. Joseph’s Altar :confused:) are done at many of the Catholic schools around here every year. The parish newspaper is always full of pictures of them.

After Hurricane Katrina, the Archdiocese of New Orleans had to close many, classic Catholic churches because the demographics changed so much. Katrina did much more damage than just flooding people’s homes.
 
CatholicFireman said:
You’d never know Northern Virginia wasn’t predominantly Catholic looking at those maps. But then again, one was dated 2000.
Click to expand...
I Live in NoVa and I have no problem at all telling its not predominantly Catholic. Our diocese is growing rapidly, but I still couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a baptist Church. In fact, no matter which of the three to four Catholic churches within easy driving distance I go to I pass a few baptist churches on the way. Baptist churches are the starbucks of Northern Virginia. And one even owns a coffee shop.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I think the only state that is truly PREDOMINANTLY Catholic is Rhode Island. I know of no significant city other than perhaps San Antonio that might be.

But there are concentrations in all sorts of places, while not predominating (in terms of majority) are highly noticeable. In my state, that would be St. Louis, first and foremost, then some German communities along the Mo and Mississippi Rivers and a little ethnic town here and there. Otherwise, nowhere at all in Mo., and definitely not in the southern part.
Click to expand...
I grew up in RI, and that state is very very very Catholic as a percentage. Of course the hispanic immigrants are bringing Catholicism with them and there is a surge in Catholic growth in states with a surge in hispanic growth.
 
There are all kinds of charts and tables at adherents.com as to which areas of the country are Catholic or whatever, which politicians and judges are what faith, etc.

You might find it interesting to peruse, considering your question.

Most American Catholics today are naturally located in areas which had and have the most immigration from the Catholic nations of Europe and Latin America. Rust Belt cities and towns, the northeast, and California and the Southwest due to recent waves of immigration from south of the border.
 
the Rio Grande Valley, diocese of Brownsville is nominally 80% Catholic, over 1 million which makes us on paper a large diocese. If 20% of that number attend Mass and have recourse the sacraments regularly, let alone support their parishes, I would be amazed. Our town has 3 parishes, and a population breakdown on paper gives us 28,000 residents within our boundaries, 18,000 Catholic. Reality check give us 3000 registered, perhaps 1000 attending Mass on any given weekend, 500 families in RE, 200 in the school.
 
I grew up in New Orleans and until we moved north, I didn’t know that there were people who weren’t Catholic! Boy, moving to Missouri was a culture shock that I never quite got over. Now I live in a ‘red’ county. 😦
 
As a general rule I’d say

Large population of Germans/Polish/Irish/Hispanics/French = Catholic

Large Populations of Swedish/Danish/Other European Countries = Protestant

Is this somewhat true overall?
 
St. Louis is very Catholic. I’d say it’s the largest religion of practicing faithful as well as non-practicing people.
 
MillTownCath said:
As a general rule I’d say

Large population of Germans/Polish/Irish/Hispanics/French = Catholic

Large Populations of Swedish/Danish/Other European Countries = Protestant

Is this somewhat true overall?
Click to expand...
Germany is mostly protestant. It is Bavaria, the southern region, which is Catholic.

Also, add Italians, Czechs, and Slovaks, and Hungarians to the Catholic list. The rest of Eastern Europe is predominantly Orthodox.
 
Timothysis said:
St Joseph Altars (or is it St. Joseph’s Altar :confused:) are done at many of the Catholic schools around here every year. The parish newspaper is always full of pictures of them.

After Hurricane Katrina, the Archdiocese of New Orleans had to close many, classic Catholic churches because the demographics changed so much. Katrina did much more damage than just flooding people’s homes.
Click to expand...
They also closed a couple that had thriving self supporting congregations. Katrina had nothing to do with them.
 
Those maps, good as they are, are a bit out of date. I can tell you that in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, the influx of Hispanics and the enlarging of the University of Alabama has caused our population of Catholics to skyrocket. Our churches can barely expand fast enough. When I first moved here in the mid-1990s, we barely had 3% Catholics. Today it’s approaching 10%, and by next year (2013), it’s projected to be 12% or more.

There’s a healthy number of converts in that number, I might add! 👍
 
TimothyH said:
Get your light blue sharpie out and standby…

In about six years the Catholic Church will be the largest Church in the 13 metro counties of Atlanta, Georgia.

-Tim-
Click to expand...
Hooray! The South needs an awakening!
 
I can tell you that my area, the city of New York, has many Catholics. My neighborhood (predominantly Italian, Irish, Croatian, Polish, etc…) which is part of northern Queens is heavily Catholic. It’s also evident with Mass being offered multiple times a day and Church to have an overall strong attendance record, as well as religious statues in front of peoples houses, cars, places of business and so on. I have many friends and relatives on Long Island and Catholicism is pretty strong in those parts as well. I can actually say the same for parts of northern New Jersey, as I know many people from there as well.
 
We just moved to Mississippi and Catholics are practically non-existent here. We are lucky that one church is about 15 minutes away and another is 30 minutes but we live in a rather well populated area. We’re going to move to another county and only one town in that county has a small Catholic church (I’m lobbying to live in that town). There is another town in the county that has a church but only a visiting priest. Both towns have a larger Hispanic population.

This is the first time in my life that I’ve lived among so many non-Catholics. People here are very religious but it isn’t the same. We’re struggling with sending our daughter to a Christian school. We want a better education for her but are worried about what she might learn that would be different from the Catholic faith.

Hubby is still looking for jobs in Texas and Arizona. In the Phoenix area we would have had nearly a half-dozen private Catholic schools for our daughter.
 
chepner3 said:
We just moved to Mississippi and Catholics are practically non-existent here. We are lucky that one church is about 15 minutes away and another is 30 minutes but we live in a rather well populated area. We’re going to move to another county and only one town in that county has a small Catholic church (I’m lobbying to live in that town). There is another town in the county that has a church but only a visiting priest. Both towns have a larger Hispanic population.
Click to expand...
There are actually a pretty fair number of Catholics along the Mississippi coast, due to the Spanish heritage. It’s nestled between New Orleans and Mobile, both of which were ruled by the Spanish and French.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top