John was a young Czech, who was fairly short, shy, and smiled a lot. He wanted to be a priest, but had difficulties in his country so he came to America to be ordained. When John arrived in New York the bishop was very happy because there were few priests in the diocese. He was sent to Buffalo, where he worked hard among the immigrants in the area and learned eight languages so he could communicate with them. He was appointed bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. St. John Neumann built churches, opened more than 100 schools, and began to construct the cathedral.

What do you do when you encounter difficulties in achieving your goals? Do you give up or do you seek other ways?