Ethnic tensions roiled the Catholic Church in the United States throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Catholic hierarchy was mostly of Irish and German descent, and many of the new immigrants to the United States were from Eastern Europe. This resulted in a great deal of friction as the Church attempted to assimilate the new members into its existing structure. The efforts were not altogether successful as their were several schisms. Scranton Pennsylvania became a hotbed of disaffection as many Eastern Catholics joined the Orthodox Church and Polish immigrants left the Catholic Church to establish the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC). The following articles are about the PNCC.