He asked people to donate money in 1905 for a new church in his hometown of Černová, which is nowadays a borough of Ružomberok. He himself donated money. Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka could not consecrate the church once it was completed, though.

Hlinka strongly criticised politics in Budapest because in the early 20th century, the Hungarian part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, of which Budapest was the capital, was oppressing minorities in an attempt to create one homogeneous Hungarian nation. And oppression hit Slovaks hard, too.
For his disobedience, a Hungarian-speaking bishop based in the Spiš Region, pressured by Budapest authorities, stripped Hlinka of his robe for a long time, preventing him from consecrating the church.