Using data from Vatican Archives, this article describes a dramatic conflict in a Slovenian parish in Cleveland at the turn of the last century. The dispute between its priest - father Vitus Hribar - and the majority of parishioners lasted from 1904 and ended with the removal of Hribar from the parish to another church in Barberton, Ohio. In that particular case, the problem had its roots in the priest's dictatorship-like conduct and a practice of putting high levies for services on its parishioners, who were increasingly middle class. The conflict also involved confrontations with other Slovenian priests. Not wishing a scandal in the diocese, the officials decided to intervene and dissolve the conflict. Careful actions of the church hierarchy ought to be seen in the context of growing American nativist climate of opinion often associated with anti-Catholicism. The exchange of letters between church officials and those involved gives us an insight into the ways Catholic Church have dealt with similar problems in ethnic parishes. In the case of Hribar, the officials involved included the bishop of Cleveland Ignatius Frederick Horstmann and Washington DC bishop Diomede Falconio