Three Million Roman Catholics?
SIR,—Three millions is a very low estimate of the number of Roman Catholics in England and Wales at the present time. In an encyclo- paedia dated 1945 the number of Roman Catholics in the British Isles was given as about 5,750,000. The present number must be about seven millions. To be recognised as a Roman Catholic one must be baptised. An unbaptised person is not entitled to and cannot receive any of the ministrations of the Catholic Church or be recognised as a Christian. I follows therefore that the numbers referred to relate to baptised persons and none other. Whether or not a baptised person attends church or uses the ministrations or consolations of religion is quite immaterial. Mr. Livermore may obtain some statistics from the Catholic Directory, which corresponds somewhat to Crockford's Clerical Directory of the Established Church. As to Mr. Livermore's supplementary questions, most of the Poles now in England are only here through the .war and therefore do not count. As to the Irish, they are chiefly in Liverpool and of course are included in the statistics.—Yours faithfully, 13 Kings Hall Road, Beckenham, Kent. G. W. R. THOMSON.
SIR.—Referring to Rev. T. L. Livermore's letter of June 16th, would not the forthcoming general census of the population offer a valuable opportunity for obtaining definite information as to the number of adherents of religious bodies in this country ? Many countries have long included this feature in census returns.—Yours truly, 3 Timbre!' Street, Trowbridge, Wilts. D. H. BRIDGEMAN.
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