The date of his ordination as a priest is unknown. By 1898, he was already in the United States. In 1904, he welcomed Ottokár Prohászka at the port of New York. He was involved in pastoral work among Slovaks. In 1901, he founded the Slovak Rosary Society and established a children’s choir, a senior choir, and a Gregorian chant choir. In 1905, St. Mary’s Church was designated as the main lodge/church of the Slovak Catholic Sokol, a status it retains to this day. In 1911, he oversaw the founding of the Society of the Holy Name and expanded the parish school by bringing in Dominican sisters from Newburgh, New York, to serve as teachers.