A History of the
Slovak Catholic Federation
1911-2010

The Slovak immigrant community in the United States was nearing the peak of its existence in 1911.  Parishes were still being organized and adjustments to the American experience of Church were adapted.  The need for parochial schools in Slovak parishes became apparent.  Slovak Americans longed for religious communities of men and women who would evangelize in the best traditions of our Cyrilo-Methodian heritage of faith.  While the primary concern was the needs of the Slovak Catholics in the United States, a unifying organization was necessary to promote works which would assist the Church in Slovakia.

          By 1911, the major Slovak Catholic fraternal societies had already been established and over three hundred Roman Catholic parishes were flourishing in the United States.  The need to unify on behalf of pastoral service was uppermost in the minds of the clergy and laity alike.  Their pioneering efforts gave birth to a wonderful organization which was unique in that clergy and laity collaborated in promoting the work of the Church.  Such cooperation and harmony had always been a trait of Slovaks prefiguring the Second Vatican Council model of the Church.

           On February 22, 1911, thirty-eight Slovak priests and more than two hundred of the laity under the direction of the Reverend Jozef Murgaš gathered in Sacred Heart Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to organize the Slovak Catholic Federation, which would serve as a unifying bond among Slovak Catholics and their institutions here in America.  Also present at the founding were two members of American hierarchy, namely the Most Reverend Michael J. Hoban, bishop of Scranton, and the Most Reverend Jozef M. Koudelka, then auxiliary bishop of Cleveland, Ohio who was later named bishop of Superior, Wisconsin.  Bishop Koudelka, a Czech, had been active in pastoral ministry among the Slovaks in the United States. The Reverend John Porubský, a prolific writer and pastor of Saints Cyril and Methodius Parish in Binghamton, New York, was elected the first president.  The Federation was incorporated on December 30, 1912 when His Honor, Judge S.J. Strauss of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County in Pennsylvania approved the Charter.

Among the first projects of the Federation was to give support to the recently established Congregation of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius and to promote activities for youth.  It also advanced the work of the Vincentian Sisters of Charity and the School Sisters of Saint Francis who had recently arrived in the United States to begin their educational apostolate among Slovak immigrants.

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© 2007 Dr. Jayne Klenner-Moore for the Slovak Catholic Federation