Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/812

798 There are statistics in the material gathered which abundantly prove that—either through its care for the religious culture of childhood, or through its special claims to league with supernatural forces, or through its magnificently devised and executed parish system—the Roman Catholic church is affecting the city more successfully than any other denomination. There are more Irish fathers church members than wage-earners, and 83.2 per cent. of Canadian fathers, wage-earners, are church members; whereas only 56.5 per cent. of English wage-earning fathers and 45.5 per cent. of German wage-earning fathers are church members. The first two nationalities are predominantly Romanist; the last two predominantly Protestant.

The church homes of the church-attending families in the district have been specially counted; and whereas the 2,575 Roman Catholic families are all housed—with the exception of twenty-two—in three churches, the 872 Protestant families claim ninety-one different church homes in the city. Twenty-two Baptist churches out of forty-seven on Manhattan island are attended by the Baptists, and these churches are scattered from One Hundred and Fifty-Sixth street to Waverly place—a reach of nine miles, and from Second avenue on the east to Amsterdam avenue on the west—a reach of over two miles. In all other Protestant denominations from one-sixth to one-half of the churches are claimed as the church homes of the people.

Notwithstanding the fact, however, that 20.6 per cent. of the pastors in New York city are giving attention to the church families in the district canvassed, 768 families out of 4,800 families have no church home, and 1,353 families have no church members.

It is evident that the families without members and places of worship are not Roman Catholic, for 97.5 per cent. of the Irish church families are Roman Catholic, and 96.4 per cent. of the Irish families of the entire district have a church home; while 76.9 per cent. of the American church families are Romanist, and 82.8 per cent. of all the American families have a church home; and but 57.33 per cent. of the German church families are