Born in what is today the Slovak Republic, Father Stephen Furdek came to Cleveland in 1888. Although he was Slovak, he was appointed to serve as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes church, a Bohemian parish, because, at the time, the Bohemian Roman Catholic population in Cleveland was much larger than the Slovak one. While he remained pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes until his death in 1915, Father Furdek became active in numerous Slovak events and organizations, including the founding of the First Catholic Slovak Union in 1890. | Source: Slovak InstituteDownload Original File
