Upon arriving in New York in 1910, Fr. Širca was assigned by Archbishop Farley to seek community support for a Croatian parish. Though unsuccessful, he was able to preach at Mass in Croatian and perform marriages and christenings for Croatians at St. Clare's, with the support of the pastor, an Italian Franciscan. Simultaneously, he did the same for the Croatian community of Hoboken, New Jersey, in the Italian Church of St. Francis, whose pastor was also Franciscan. Širca kept parish records of Croatians in both churches. In August 1912 he left to serve the Slovak parish of St. Michael's in Rockland Lake, N.Y. That year, Irenej, or Irenaeus, Petričak, a Croatian born in 1889, was a theology student in Zagreb, and was solicited by a Franciscan friar and missionary in America to travel there to serve his countrymen. After his ordination later in the year, he and an older priest, Rev. Placid Belavić, journeyed to New York City, arriving in 1913. They found that most of the city's Croats did not attend church, but those who did went to St. Clare's. Rev. Petričak met with the vicar general of the archdiocese, Mgr Joseph Mooney, who suggested the young priest arrange with St. Clare's pastor for a Sunday Mass in Croatian, to test the response. In the event, the church was filled to overflowing, with Mgr Mooney present. The day after his report, the archbishop granted Fr. Petričak permission to start his parish. With representatives of various Croatian organizations, Fr. Petričak and Mgr Mooney canvassed the community. A church council was set up. They rented a small disused church at 552 West 50th St., empty save for the benches and a fine organ, for $100 a month. With donations of church necessities from other New York City churches, it took the Croatians of the community five weeks to renovate and refurbish the church, during which time St. Clare's continued to celebrate Mass in Croatian. It was named the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, for the 9th-century Greek siblings called Apostles to the Slavs. The opening ceremonies took place on Sunday, November 16, 1913. A tremendous downpour didn't prevent a huge procession of people displaying tricolors, accompanied by music, from marching up 11th Avenue toward the new church.