this is the ArchBishop I was thinking of:
John Ireland (September 11, 1838 - September 25, 1918) was the third bishop and first archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota (1888–1918). He was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and emigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota as a child. Later, he was educated at French seminaries and was ordained in 1861. He began his career as a chaplain in the Civil War....
...Ireland advocated that all Catholic children be sent to public schools, or that existing Catholic schools be rented to the state, and that state should then run these schools, a stance that made him many enemies. ...
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Ireland's refusal to accept the credentials of Byzantine Catholic priest Alexis Toth caused a minor schism that eventually lead thousands of Uniates to leave the Catholic Church to join the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of this, he is sometimes referred to, ironically, as "The Father of the Orthodox Church in America".
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ireland_(archbishop)