Mobile Bay Religion

• The 1860 census listed the following churches as being in Mobile: 16 Methodist, 11 Baptist, seven Catholic, six Presbyterian and three Episcopal. There was also a Jewish synagogue.

Roman Catholic

• In differentiation between Mobile and the rest of predominantly Protestant Alabama, Mobile was declared a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
• The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile comprises the lower 28 counties of Alabama.
  • It is the metropolitan see of the Province of Mobile, which includes the suffragan bishopric sees of the Diocese of Biloxi, the Diocese of Jackson, and the Diocese of Birmingham.
  • The Archbishop of Mobile is the pastor of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
  • The archdiocese was originally established in 1825, as Vicariate Apostolic of Alabama and the Floridas. It was erected as Diocese of Mobile, May 15, 1829. The diocese was elevated to Archdiocese of Mobile in 1980.
• Catholic Parishes in Mobile: St. Mary’s, Old Shell Road, formed 1868. Little Flower, Government Street. St. Catherine of Siena, Crichton, 1914. St. Joan of Arc, 1920.  St. Ignatius, Springhill.
• The chief benefactors of the diocese were Felix and Arthur McGill — the McGill Institute, a high school for boys, bears their name.
• The Hannan Home for the aged poor is a tribute to the generosity of Major P. C. Hannan, who built it along the lines of Bishop Allen’s choosing. 
• The Sisters of Charity arrived in Mobile in 1841 to care for orphans and by 1851 were managing the City Hospital. False charges of mismanagement forced the Sisters out of the hospital during a period of anti-Catholic sentiment. Yet, the Sisters regained respect by service to Mobile during the 1853 yellow fever epidemic.
• The Knights of Peter Claver, the largest African-American lay Catholic organization, was founded by four Josephite priests and three lay Catholic men in 1909 in Mobile.  The organization is located in 34 states. The Order is named after St. Peter Claver, a Jesuit priest from Spain who ministered to African slaves in Cartegena, Colombia.
• The current Archbishop is Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi.  In 2008, he succeeded Most Rev. Oscar H. Lipscomb, who had been archbishop since 1980.

Episcopal

• In 1862, Richard H. Wilson was consecrated as bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Alabama and delivered his first sermon at Christ Church.
• Episcopalian minister Leonidas Polk became known as the “battling bishop” when he rejoined the military at the start of the Civil War. He also designed a Civil War battle flag for Mobile.
• Richard Wilmer, the second Bishop of Mobile, founded Wilmer Hall in 1864.
• The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast was founded in 1971 from the southern portion of Alabama and the Florida panhandle. At that time, Wilmer Hall Children’s Home became an agency of the new diocese, while maintaining close ties with the Diocese of Alabama. The new diocese, bishop, and staff were housed at Wilmer Hall until they moved to Pensacola in 1989.

Methodist

• The St. Francis Street Methodist Church was founded in 1840

Presbyterian

• Although the Presbytery of Alabama was organized in 1821, in Mobile the number of Presbyterians was so small that they formed a union church with local Episcopalians in 1822. 
• A Presbyterian congregation was formally organized in 1831 and in 1837 built the Government Street Presbyterian Church.

Jewish

• Congregation Sha’arai Shomayim (or Gates of Heaven and Society of Friends of the Needy) Reform Congregation was formed in 1844 – making it the oldest in Alabama and one of the oldest in the U.S. The current Springhill Avenue Temple was completed in 1954.
• Russian and Eastern European Orthodox Jews started the Ahavas Chesed Congregation in 1894, which is now located on Regent’s Way.
• Both congregations have cemetaries located near Magnolia Cemetery.
• The Comic Cowboys and the Fidelia Club were predominantly Jewish.
• Prominent Mobile Jewish Families include: Eichold, Haas, Leinkauf, Lowenstein, Cherniak, and others.
• Thomas Cooper De Leon, founder of the Mobile Carnival Association, was Jewish. And the tradition of community service and philanthropy continues to this day with the Mitchell family and others