Catholicism first came to the territories now forming the United States before the
Protestant Reformation with the
Spanish explorers and settlers in present-day
Florida (1513) and the
southwest. The first Christian worship service held in the current United States was a Catholic Mass celebrated in Pensacola, FL.(St. Michael records) The influence of the
Alta California missions (1769 and onwards) forms a lasting memorial to part of this heritage.
In the English colonies, Catholicism was introduced with the settling of
Maryland in 1634; this colony offered a rare example of
religious toleration in a fairly intolerant age, particularly amongst other English colonies which frequently exhibited a quite militant
Protestantism.
The state of Oklahoma is 2% Roman Catholic. It is 3% in Tulsa.