The priest involved himself in a controversy surrounding St. Mary's Church, to which he was connected through Torres and merchant Richard W. Meade, another acquaintance. Mier defended the parish's excommunicated priest William Hogan, who had offended Bishop Henry Conwell. The trustees of St. Mary's defied the bishop by keeping Hogan as their priest. For Mier this was a matter of control over what the American form of the Church should be, and he became central to the debate. In a dialog of pamphlets "Servandus Mier" made vigorous assertions and was vigorously condemned; in one response he wrote, "It is true that I was a prisoner of the inquisition ... but I would think citizens in the United States and every civilized country would consider this honourable." He left the U.S. with a Colombian passport issued by Torres.