At a Glance

Snapshot of the Catholic Church in the United States

Data collected for the 2009 Official Catholic Directory, also known as the Kennedy Directory, show the reach of parishes, health care, educational, and social service ministries sponsored by the Catholic Church in the United States. Currently, there are 68,115,001 Catholics, making up 22 percent of the U.S. population. The total number of Catholics is an increase of about one million from the previous year. The directory is based on information collected from dioceses and is released each spring.

Last year, Catholic rganizations in the United Sates provided an estimated $28.2 billion in service through institutions represented by the Catholic Health Association ($5.7 billion), Catholic Charities USA ($3.5 billion) and National Catholic Educational Association (19.8 billion). This does not include assistance provided through parishes and other organizations.

At a Glance

41,489	diocesan and religious order priests
60,715	religious sisters
4,905	religious brothers
16,935	permanent deacons

18,674	parishes, including 91 new parishes
562	Catholic hospitals that assisted 85,293,351 patients last year
3,009	social services centers with 27,213,486 people assisted annually

189	seminaries with 4,973 students
234	Catholic colleges and universities serving 795,823 students
1,341	Catholic high schools serving 674,380 students
6,133	Catholic elementary schools serving 1,609,387 students
722,599	students in high school religious education programs
3,080,838	students in elementary school religious education

887,145	infant baptisms
42,629	adult baptisms
81,775	persons coming into full Communion, who were baptized Christians who joined the Catholic Church

For more information, please visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Website.