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The Catholic Church forms the largest Christian denomination in the United States. As of 2003 the United States had over 65.2 million Catholics, approximately 23% of the population. This total exceeds by about four times the size of the next largest denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.
No primate for Catholics exists in the United States. The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the first diocese established in the country, received Prerogative of Place in the 1850s, which confers to its archbishop a subset of the leadership responsibilities granted to primates in other countries.
Over 19,000 parishes exist in 195 dioceses or archdioceses:
The Church has over 30,000 diocesan priests, and over 15,000 priests vowed to a specific order; also over 30,000 lay ministers, 13,000 deacons, 75,000 sisters, and 5600 brothers.
150,000 Catholic school teachers operate in the U.S., teaching 2.7 million elementary and high school students.
Roman Catholicism first came to the territories now forming the United States with the Spanish explorers and settlers in present-day Florida (1513 - ) and the south-west. The influence of the California missions (1769 and onwards) forms a lasting memorial to part of this heritage.
Anglophone Catholicism received a boost with the settling of Maryland (1634): this colony offered a rare example of Catholic-oriented religious toleration in a fairly intolerant age and amongst other English "plantations" which frequently exhibited a quite militant ProtestantismProtestantism in the strict sense of the word is the group of princes and imperial cities who, at the diet of Speyer in 1529, tried a protestation against the Edict of Worms which forbade the Lutheran teachings within the Holy Roman Empire. From there, th. (See the Maryland Toleration ActThe Maryland Toleration Act was a law passed in 1649 by the colonial assembly of the Province of Maryland mandating religious toleration of all Christian denominations. As the first such law, it is often seen as a precursor to the First Amendment. In 1649, and note the pre-eminence of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Catholic circles.)
Subsequent mass- immigrationImmigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. An immigrant is usually someone who intends to reside permanently, and not a casual visitor or traveler. Immigration means "in-migration" into a coun -- especially of Catholics from IrelandThe island of Ireland ire in Irish, Airlann in Ulster Scots) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Irelan, from southern Europe ( ItalyThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer, PortugalRepublica Portuguesa ( In Detail) National motto: None Official language Portuguese 3 Capital Lisbon President Jorge Sampaio Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes Area Total % water World ranking: 109th 92,391 kmē0. 5 % Population Total ( 2004) Density World), from Poland, from the Philippines and from Latin America -- has impacted the flavor of Catholicism in the United States.
(Note figures such as Isaac Hecker .)