Opinion ID: 2505697
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Founding of Christ Church through the Revolution.

Text: The church building parcel was originally given to Christ Church in 1733 by the trustees of the Georgia colony, to be part of the Church of England under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. In 1750, Christ Church's sanctuary was finished and dedicated as a church by its rector, who was an ordained Church of England priest. [10] In 1758, the colonial government passed a law establishing the Church of England as the official religion of the colony and dividing the Georgia colony into eight parishes to serve as both the civil and ecclesiastical government for their inhabitants, with Christ Church named as the first parish. The same 1758 act incorporated Christ Church and vested its property and also all other lands, tenements, and heriditaments, as shall or may hereafter be given and granted to the said church in the rector of Christ Church and his successors. The American Revolution severed Christ Church's legal connection to the Church of England and its head, King George III. Georgia's first post-Independence constitution, adopted in 1777, abandoned the parish system, calling them counties instead of parishes, combining some and reconfiguring others, and substituting secular names like Chatham County and Liberty County for religious appellations like Christ Church Parish and Saint Paul Parish. However, Christ Church's prior status as a subordinate member of the established church aided it in retaining legal title to the church building parcel instead of having it revert to the State of Georgia after the war. See Christ Church v. Savannah, 82 Ga. at 662-666, 9 S.E. 537.