After his ordination, Dubois assigned Neumann to assist Father Alexander Pax in serving recent German immigrants in the Buffalo area. The more senior priest there, John Nicholas Mertz, was in Europe raising funds. Neumann departed on a Hudson River liner with new clothes given to him by Raffeiner and the bishop's funds for his travel expenses on June 28. Dubois wished Neumann to stop at Rochester before continuing to Buffalo. The German Catholics in Rochester were then holding services in the basement of St. Patrick's Church under the direction of Father Bernard O'Reilly. Still, as most of the Catholics in that area were Irish, they raised funds to build a separate church where they could be served in their native language.