The bishop of Lansing, Michigan, today published “The Soul of the Nation,” a brief reflection on the Church when the nation was founded.
“In 1785 there were 9,000 Catholic adults, 3,000 children, and 3,800 Catholic slaves all in Maryland, with about 7,000 Catholics in Pennsylvania and 1,500 in New York, and scattered Catholics in the rest of the country out of a total United States population of over 3 million,” said Bishop Earl Boyea. “We were really a minority.”