SLAVS IN AMERICA 177 



are spread throug-hout the country, chiefly in the following 

 States: Pennsylvania, 270,000; Ohio, 75,000; lUinois, 50,000; 

 New Jersey, 50,000; New York, 35,000; Connecticut, 20,000; 

 Indiana, 15,000; Missouri, 10,000; whilst they range from 

 5,000 to a few hundreds in the other States. About 450,000 

 of them are Roman Catholics, 10,000 Greek Catholics and 

 95,000 Protestants. 



The first Slovak Catholic church in the United States was 

 founded by Rev. Joseph Kossalko at Streator, Illinois, and 

 was dedicated 8 Dec, 1883. Following this he also built St. 

 Joseph's Church at Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in 1884. In 1889 

 Rev. Stephen Furdek founded the Church of St. Ladislas at 

 Cleveland, Ohio, together with a fine parochial school, both 

 of which were dedicated by Bishop Gilmour. The American 

 bishops were anxious to get Slovak priests for the increasing 

 immigration, and Bishop Gilmour sent Father Furdek to 

 Hungary for that purpose. The Hungarian bishops were un- 

 willing to send Slovak priests at first, but as immigration in- 

 creased they acceded to the request. At present (1911) the 

 Catholic Slovaks have a clergy consisting of one bishop (Rt. 

 Rev. J. M. Koudelka) and 104 priests, and have 134 churches 

 situated as follows: in Pennsylvania, 81 (Dioceses of Altoona, 

 10; Erie, 4; Harrisburg, 3; Philadelphia, 15; Pittsburgh, 35; 

 and Scranton, 14) ; in Ohio, 14 (in the Diocese of Cleveland, 

 12, and Columbus, 2) ; in Illinois, 10 (in the Archdiocese of 

 Chicago, 7; and Peoria, 3) ; in New Jersey, 11 (in the Dio- 

 cese of Newark, 7; and Trenton, 4); in New York, 6; and 

 in the States of Connecticut, 3 ; Indiana, 2 ; Wisconsin, 2 ; and 

 Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Alabama, and West Virginia, 

 one each. Some of the Slovak church buildings are very fine 

 specimens of church architecture. There are also 36 Slovak 

 parochial schools, that of Our Lady Mary in Cleveland having 

 750 pupils. They have also introduced an American order of 

 Slovak nuns, the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who 

 are established under the direction of Bishop Hoban in the 

 Diocese of Scranton, where they have four schools. 



The Protestant Slovaks followed the example of the Catho- 

 lics and established their first church at Streator, Illinois, in 

 1885, and later founded a church at Minneapolis, in 1888, and 

 from 1890 to 1894 three churches in Pennsylvania. They now 

 have in the United States 60 Slovak churches and congrega- 



