Having been friends and intimately involved with several Catholics in Georgia I'm really curious where this statement comes from - because it's literally the first time I've heard it.
I am told (by my Catholic friends who live[d] in Alabama) that Alabama is considered a missionary region for Catholics. The local Books-a-millions have any Catholic literature in -- I am not making this up -- "World Religion" (not enough space in the third of the store devoted to Christian books.