A 1697 legislative act outlawed Catholicism in the English colony of Carolina. As a result, public records of Catholicism do not appear until after American Independence. After so many years of exclusion, the first steps towards organization of Catholicism in the distant states of Carolinas and Georgia proved difficult.
John England rose to the occasion. Under his leadership, the Diocese of Charleston grew from one church, ten priests, and approximately five thousand Catholics to seventeen churches, twenty priests, and nearly twenty thousand Catholics.
Pre-Diocesan and Founding, 1788-1842
