Here is what Father Toth himself wrote about his meeting with Archbishop Ireland:
I remember that no sooner did he (Ireland) read that I was a "Uniate" than his hands began to shake. It took him fifteen minutes to read to the end, after which he asked abruptly -- we spoke in Latin:
"Have you a wife?"
"No."
"But you had one?"
"Yes, I am a widower."
At this he threw the paper on the table and loudly exclaimed:
"I have already written to Rome protesting against this kind of priest being sent to me."
"What kind of priest do you mean?"
"Your kind."
"I am a Catholic priest of the Greek Rite, I am a Uniate. I was ordained by a lawful Catholic bishop."
"I do not consider either you or this bishop of yours Catholic. Besides, I do not need any Uniate priests here. A Polish priest in Minneapolis is sufficient. The Greek (Catholics) can also have him for their priest."
"But he belongs to the Latin Rite. Our people do not understand him. They will hardly go to him. That is why they built a church of their own."
"I gave them no permission to build, and I shall grant you no permission to work there."
The Archbishop lost his temper, I lost mine just as much. One word brought another, (so) that the thing had gone so far that our (further) conversation is not worth putting on record.
The above is taken from
Orthodox Christians in North America 1794 - 1994 [
oca.org] on the OCA website.
I do not agree with the post that Archbishop Ireland "did what he had to do". Father Toth should never have been treated like this.
