He is listed on passenger lists as having left from Liverpool on the S.S. New York on November 7, 1914. He arrived on November 16, 1914. Cunliffe-Owen incorrectly stated he arrived in 1912, while Anson cited 1914. but without Mathew's authorization, It was reported on a
society page a few days later that Berghes "is to be assigned as rector" of a parish in New York City and that Greer "announce[d] that the appointment will be made." After Hulse's consecration, newspapers questioned Berghes' true identity and so did bishops. Allegations about his background were printed in newspapers. William Wolkovich-Valkavicius called Mickiewicz, in
Polish American Studies, a "major figure in the Lithuanian separatist movement." Mickiewicz was pastor of the independent Lithuanian parish in
Scranton, Pennsylvania started by the dissidents. However, "because of his unsavory conduct," Mickiewicz "was charged with breach of discipline and left of his own accord rather than face expulsion." presented "the correspondence and request of " to the October 1919
General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which referred the documents to a special committee consisting of the bishops who "confer with officials of the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Old Catholics". The committee reported that they considered what was presented but were "not prepared to recommend any action". They reported, "the reception of a person applying to minister in" the "belongs to the jurisdiction of the several Bishops of the same." So, the General Convention discharged the committee "from the further consideration of the subject." Brown resigned later that year. On November 22, 1919, he abandoned Old Catholicism and took a
solemn vow of
abjuration at the hands of
Patrick Joseph Hayes,
Archbishop of New York, in
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. He was buried in the monastery's cemetery. He made "the claim," according to his obituary, "that through his efforts the American branch of the Old Catholics number[ed] in 1920 about 120,000 in Canada and the United States." After Mathew died in 1919, the declared in 1920 that Mathew's "consecration was obtained '
and that consequently it is null and void." Consecrations derived from Mathew were not recognised by the . Smit wrote that, "the orders of ' in general, [...] and of all those consecrated by them, are not recognized, and all connections with these persons is formally denied" by the . ==Name and title variations==