Interesting piece of history

In 1682, LaSalle claimed Louisiana (all of the area drained by the Mississippi River) for Christ AND the Roman Catholic church. The French government in Louisiana was determined to prevent Protestants from settling in Louisiana. A petition was submitted asking that 400 Hugenots from the Carolinas to migrate to Louisiana, the governor proclaimed " the King had not expelled the Protestants from France to make a republic in America." Again in 1724, Bienville prohibited all religions except Catholic.

In 1755 the arrival of the Acadians from Nova Scotia reinforced this strict Catholic directive, in fact even though this new nation was based on freedoms not found in Europe, one could be arrested and jailed for preaching the gospel according to any thing other than Catholic doctrine.

In 1803 the signing of the Louisiana Purchase changed all of that. The religious freedom was now guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. In May 1860 the Presbyterian church of Centerville was organized.

More information about this interesting piece of history can be found at
http://fpcni.org/history.html