A Study of Movement for German National Parishes in Philadelphia and Baltimore (1787-1802)

The extraordinary growth of the Catholic Church in the United States during the century and a half which followed upon the Declaration of Independence (1776) can be explained in various ways. In part, it was due to conversions, to natural increase, and to the incorporation of territories colonized by Catholic powers. But most of all it was due to a large immigration from Catholic countries; an immigration both of the laity who swelled our numbers and of the clergy who cared for their spiritual needs until a native American clergy had the time to developed. This fact has not been overlooked by writers on either side of the Atlantic. But Europe’s contribution to our weaving also included threads of different hue, which have received considerably less attention because they are far less brilliant and less pleasant to contemplate, though they loom large in the fabric of American Church history.