A friend of mine wants to know how many Catholic cathedrals there are in the United States. I’ve tried Google, Yahoo, and even Jeeves, but haven’t been able to turn up an answer.
Can anyone help?
From the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, we find that there are approximately 193 dioceses and eparchies in the US. Assuming there is a single cathedral for each, there you have it. However, there are also numerous co-cathedrals and pro-cathedrals.
Should have stuck with my first instinct. It’s actually the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops now, but they kept the old NCCB url.
Well, if I understand how these things work, first you ask yourself how many Catholics there are in the United States …
Sorry about that. 
The online business directory I’ve searched lists 191 Catholic churches with the word “cathedral” in their name. I do not know if that is a sure thing, though.
As an unemployed audiologist that hasn’t set foot in a classroom in quite a while, I swear to you that this isn’t because of an assignment.
After I posted the OP, I tried to figure out how I might find the answer indirectly, since a direct approach with Google wasn’t working.
After finding out the definition of “cathedral” from the Catholic Encyclopedia, I got the idea to look up the definition of “diocese.”
The CE’s definition includes a table at the end listing the number of dioceses around the world. For the US, it lists the number at 76.
Assuming one cathedral per diocese, that would give me the number of 76 cathedrals.
Which totally conflicts with dqa’s answer of 193 and KneadtoKnow’s similar figure of 191.
So, I’m still not sure what the answer is.
The fact that the online version of the Catholic Encyclopedia is from circa 1911 may be complicating your calculations.
:smack:
Didn’t realize that the information was almost 100 years old.
I mis-counted. It’s actually 196 dioceses and eparchies on the page linked above (notice I said approximately).
Anyway, I think the USCCB is the best source for this. The complicating factors:
It’s not clear that “Lithuanian Catholics outside Lithuania” really constitutes a diocese or eparchy.
I find no evidence that the Archdiocese for the Military Services has its own cathedral.
Pro-cathedrals
A pro-cathedral is often a smaller or temporary church which serves as the seat of the bishop until a more permanent and impressive structure can be built. The designation often remains, even if it is never replaced, such as in Dublin. In other cases, such as the Byzantine Catholic pro-cathedral in Anchorage, the title is bestowed as an honor, without an actual bishop (in this case there was a mitred archpriest).
Co-cathedrals
In some cases a diocese may expand, or two dioceses may merge, such that a second cathedral within a single diocese is required. One such case is the diocese of Galveston-Houston. In 1847, when Galveston was the big city in Texas, it was established as the seat of the new diocese of Texas. In 1959, the diocese was renamed Galveston-Houston, and a parish church selected as the co-cathedral in Houston. Plans are now afoot for a much larger co-cathedral in Houston, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the former co-cathedral became known as a pro-cathedral.
Without an lengthy diocese-by-diocese search, you’ll have a tough time counting all the pro-cathedrals and co-cathedrals. Regardless, it seems safe to say over 200 Catholic cathedrals are to be found in the US, which of course ignores the cathedrals of the Episcopal, Orthodox, and a few other churches.
Technically isn’t there just one cathedral per diocese at any time? Wherever the Bishop has his official “seat” is the the “cathedral.” Sort of like whatever aircraft the US President is on at the time is Airforce One.
David Simmons, not exactly. You are correct that where the bishop has his seat is a cathedral – but the organization of the church (as a worshipping community) surrounding that cathedra is different than would be a local non-cathedral parish church. So the bishop cannot suddenly decide that Holy Trinity, Eastburg, is not much fun any more, and I’ll move my see to St. Swithin’s, Westburg – both churches would need to reorganize for St. Swithin’s to become the new cathedral.
I appreciate dqa’s bringing up that the see churches of bishops other than the Roman Catholics are in fact cathedrals. Typically there may be four or five cathedrals in a large metropolitan city, thanks to there being a Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Orthodox bishop there. (Note that New York has two Catholic bishops, thanks to Brooklyn being the see city of another diocese prior to its merger into NYC in 1898, as well as quite a few non-RCC bishops.)
Poly, I could be wrong, but I thought David was trying to make a significant distinction between the Church’s definition of a cathedral and a layperson’s. To most people, “cathedral” means a large, elaborate, ornately decorated church. That’s what most Americans seem to mean when they use the word, at any rate.
To most Americans, a huge, gaudy church is a cathedral, whether or not a bishop is stationed there. To the Catholic Church, of course, even a very small church (like St. Mary’s Cathedral, here in Austin) can qualify as a cathedral, provided it’s a bishop’s bae of operations.
So, the answer to the OP’s question really depends whether he’s researching the Catholic hierarchy in the U.S., or whether he’s seeking out beautiful buildings for purely aesthetic reasons.
Well, most Americans are pretty ignorant, and we’re here to fight that. There would be no way of counting all the big, ornate churches in the country. It’s an entirely subjective judgment, for one.
Actually, by my count there are four - the two Roman rite bishops you mention, the Maronite rite bishop of Brooklyn, and the Armenian rite bishop of the US & Canada. There are also several other eastern rite Catholic bishops across the river in Jersey.
Of course if your definition of Catholic doesn’t include communion with Rome, you can throw in various groups like the Imani Temple, the Polish National Catholic Church, the Pius XII society, some descendent of the Dutch Catholic Church, etc. Most of these have their own bishops, some have their own pope. Whether they have cathedrals may vary from group to group.