Roman Catholic Church

Catholicism in Canada began with the colonization of New France in the 17th century. New France was a Catholic colony stretching from the St. Lawrence River to the western Great Lakes. French missionaries, most notably the Jesuits, evangelized the native Indian population, setting up mission towns throughout New France. The first Canadian martyrs were a number of Jesuits killed by Indians in the 1640s. François Xavier de Laval-Montmorency was the chief religious authority in New France from 1659 to 1684. A Jesuit priest, he was ordained the first bishop of Québec in 1674. Because New France was a Catholic colony, the clergy had charge of education, hospitals, and welfare; and the state enforced tithes and gave the church land and money. After the British conquest of New France in 1760, opposition to the church arose, but the Québec Act (1774) opened public office to Catholics and authorized continuation of tithes.

As a result of 19th- and 20th-century immigration, the Roman Catholic Church in Canada grew rapidly, and it was removed from mission status in 1908. The newcomers, however, changed its character. Irish immigration in the early 1800s reduced the French Canadians to a minority among Catholics outside Québec and led to conflict over language and episcopal appointments. Such tension continued in the 20th century with the arrival of southern and eastern Europeans. In the late 1990s the Roman Catholic Church was the largest religious group in the country: 45 percent of all Canadians were Catholic. In 2000 there were about 9,600 priests and 5,681 parishes spread throughout 18 archdioceses and 45 dioceses.