The Roman Catholic Church has just celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the New York diocese, attended by leading dignitaries of that denomination. Among the ceremonies was pontifical high mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral at which one archbishop, forty bishops, one hundred monsignori, and nearly eight hundred priests were present. One hundred years ago there were SIX priests in the New York diocese, only one Catholic church, and a few modest houses of worship; the Catholic population numbered about 20,000 souls. There were no colleges, academies, hospitals, or asylums that were worthy of note. To-day, in the same territory, there are one archbishop, nine bishops, 2,536 priests, fourteen churches, and a Catholic population of three million; and there are colleges, academies, schools, protectories, asylums, and hospitals galore. The diocese of New York to-day is said to be the most important see in the United States, and is second to few, if indeed to any, in the whole Catholic world. And this influence will be brought to bear, not upon religion purely, but upon politics as well.