Youngstown's spirituality

 

mosaic of of SS. Cyril & Methodius Youngstown 

SS. Cyril & Methodius was a Slovak parish in Youngstown, it is no longer. SS. Cyril & Methodius was a Slovak parish in Warren, it is no longer. SS. Cyril & Methodius was a Slovak parish in Barberton, it is no longer. SS. Cyril & Methodius was a Slovene parish in Lorain, it is no longer. The American bishops have closed many parishes, and churches. The list continues. Often different nationality churches had  a favorite saint as their patron. One can play a guessing game, in which a name is mentioned, and you can guess if the bishop closed it. Here is the thing: people built and paid for their churches, and possession was taken by the bishops. They are closed, usually by a canonical formula. Parishioners have no real say. They are to pay and obey, and to keep quiet. People who defend the actions list reasons why a parish is made to go extinct. Very often those reasons do not apply to the case, and if it is pointed out, the effective rebuttal is ignored, and with prejudice. Bishops are administrative functionaries who rule with impunity.

St. Lucy, Campbell Ohio was closed by Youngstown bishop in 2012, re-opened in 2017, and closed again in 2021. This statue is now on a hill at Our Lady at Mount Carmel Youngstown. Both are often names of Italian parishes. Mt. Carmel has many outdoor statues, including one from the now demolished Immaculate Conception, which was the oldest Catholic church in Youngstown.

Usually she is holding a plate with her plucked out eyes. She was a child martyr. This time it is a bowl. I climbed, and lifted the camera to snap downwards.

Blessed Maria Teresa Casini with robin at Mt. Carmel

mezzaluna above the center door of OLM Carmel

Timothy Schmalz. The Last Supper.  

Jesus invites you to the table, which has twelve available stools. At different places the shape, and the material of the stools vary. This sculpture is directly across SS. Cyril & Methodius, the campus of OL Mt. Carmel sprawls behind, left center back can be seen a marble statue of Columbus.

Timothy Schmalz. When I Was Naked. St. John Episcopal.

Timothy Schmalz. Homeless Jesus. St. Columba. 

Timothy Schmalz's Homeless Jesus is in more than an hundred cities. It was hard to find the first place. The cathedrals of Toronto, and Manhattan refused. The first to say, "Yes", was a priest friend and counselor at Regis College in Toronto. Schmalz has said,  "Many say 'Homeless Jesus' is shocking, but I respond that it's only as shocking as the Gospel". The first installation in the United States was at St. Alban's Episcopal Davidson North Carolina. Many were displeased. They found it insulting, demeaning, and creepy—well, the American bourgeois. Pope Francis was exceptionally moved by his work. Schmalz is working with the Vatican.

 

Schmalz has made many bronze sculptures, some with over an hundred persons. He is very Catholic. Among his few secular works is a statue of Gordon Lightfoot, they are both Canadians.

Joseph DeLauro. St. Columba.  

A massive modernistic statue of four blocks of Minnesota limestone, called Kasota, or Mankato stands to the left of the entrance to the cathedral. This project was completed in 1958. It is the fourth St, Columba church, the third burned in 1956. The previous churches became too small.

St. Columba has a ground level series of narrow windows that have the words of the Nicene Creed, "I believe in one God the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth". He is depicted here as an old king. There is a higher level of longer windows of the apostles, that foto well in close ups, because of the long length, and short width.

St. Joseph Spiritual Force of Labor  

Most of the congregation members were laborers in the iron, steel, rail, coal industries. St. Joseph was a workman, and is one of the many favorite saints of Italians. On campus at OLM Carmel there is also a multi-monument shrine to Saint Anthony of Padua (1971).

St. Stephen Presbyterian (Welsh) was built in 1923. It became a black Presbyterian church, Butler Memorial Presbyterian, named after the benefactor, who was son to the art museum founder. The last service was held 2015. It was sold the next year to a man who made it a brewery. Ohio has five former churches that are craft breweries, some with restaurant. I viewed a video showing the inside looking good, the outside needs a lot of work. Driving by, it looks abandoned.