r The Catholic Democracy of America,64 - Digital Repository Services

14 Romani Catholicism in America.
spread of the Roman Catholic religion ever dreamed of, and
one which is likely to revolutionize Christendom. Of all
the languages of Europe which have influenced civilization,
English, for historical causes, has been spoken by fewer
Roman Catholics than any other tongue. English-speaking
Catholics have been a comparatively small body, the majority
of whom, as recently as half a century ago, were persons
actually born in Ireland. The growth of the American
nation, as the largest organ of the English language, is completely
changing the position of our tongue among the millions
who follow the faith of Rome. The expansion of England in
her colonies is assisting towards this remarkable issue, but the
United States is the chief instrument in bringing about the
result, which men of this generation will live to see, of the
Church of Rome having a greater number of its active members
speaking English than any other living language.
As it is impossible to treat of one of the great influences
which regulate the conduct of a nation without expressing
some opinion upon the people, I should like, though perhaps
needlessly, to disclaim any spirit of censoriousness in my
necessarily imperfect observations» Americans are said to be
hyper-sensitive with regard to English criticism, and small
wonder if they are so, considering the de haut en bas tone
assumed by many of our countrymen when speaking or writing
about American institutions. It is true that there is a
small section of American society which, by its singular
admiration for, and imitation of, what is least laudable in
English manners and customs, lays itself out as the object of
British patronizing airs, but the unworthier forms of Anglomania
do not count for much in a population of sixty millions.
There are no people on the face of the earth who are more
willing than are Americans to discuss with outsiders their own
foibles and to listen with generous endurance to strictures
upon them, provided their critics approach the subject as
amateurs of human nature, and not with that air of superiority
which may be the secret of England's greatness, but