20th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States 20th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States The 20th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States was characterized by a period of continuous growth for the Church in the United States, with Catholics progressively evolving from a small minority to a large minority. In 1900 the Catholic population was 10 million, under the control of 14 Archbishops, 77 bishops, and 12,000 priests . The community had built 10,000 churches, of which two-thirds had resident pastors. Catholic schools educated nearly 1,000,000 children and youth. Catholics were heavily concentrated in the industrial and mining centers of the
19th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States 19th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States The 19th-century history of the Catholic Church in the United States was characterized by several unsuccessful attempts by Catholics to culturally integrate themselves into the mainstream American culture of that century. Only during the 20th century did this fully succeed, with the election of John F. Kennedy to the presidency in 1960. During the 19th century, a wave of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Eastern Europe and elsewhere swelled the number of Roman Catholics. Substantial numbers of Catholics also came from French Canada during the mid-19th century and settled in