The research holes of other historians reside in the fact that the Catholic story has been neglected in discussions of Georgia religion. There have been many neglected points made about Catholics in Georgia during the era of the early republic when there is ample source material to appropriately discuss this group of Christians. In Colonial Georgia complete freedom of religion did not extend even to dissenters such as the Baptists, a group that became the dominant Christian denomination; however, they still retained some liberty. Because of various social issues along with outside circumstances, Catholics were completely banned from the colony in the beginning. However, the young state of Georgia in the emerging American republic was ripe for religious growth with the end of the American Revolution. Georgia provided the fertile ground and others provided the faith. The majority of Catholic believers in Georgia just after the American Revolution were foreign to the state. A group from Maryland traveled south to form the Church of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Later in the 1790s, French émigrés settled along the coast eventually moving to Augusta and other inland places. Many Irish Catholics became the major leaders of the Catholic faith and journeyed there to minister in the American mission. Bishop John England was the most important figure in spreading the Roman Catholic faith in Georgia up to this time. Before he became the bishop of Charleston, the faith in Georgia was crumbling. Children were not learning their catechisms nor were marriages and deaths being blessed. A rift had formed between the laity and the clergy. Bishop England revived and helped further spread the Catholic Church in Georgia.

Matthew Blake Strickland History Thesis 2012 for Valdosta State University.