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.

Youngstown

Mill Creek Park Suspension Bridge was erected 1895. People have called it by other names, Cinderella Bridge chiefly. A lot of people used their cameras on this. The bridge does carry vehicles.

Lanterman’s Mill was built in 1845-46 by German Lanterman, and Samuel Kimberly. It was the third mill there.  It ceased operating in 1888. The Park bought it in 1892, and used it for various purposes.  In 1933 it held a nature museum, which became a historical museum in 1972. During 1982-85 it was becoming a grist mill again. Fotos are very easy to take from the bridge on Canfield Road, it conveniently has bump outs on the sidewalk.

Between downtown and Mill Creek Park is Glenwood Avenue. Some buildings have painted murals.

Kyle Holbrook. "Peace" Stop Gun Violence. 2021.Youngstown. 

This is the third one i have seen. He went about the country, opposing gun violence. [click 1] [click2]

Alfred Solani. Columbus. 1959. Youngstown (now). 

Cristoforo Colombo travelled and explored his world. This statue has travelled too. First sculpted in Italia, it was to go to San Francisco. It instead went to Barrington (Chicago) Illinois in 1966. It was vandalised (physically damaged). In 1986 it was resculpted, and it was mounted at Columbus State Community College in 1988. It was vandalised (minor) after George Floyd's death, as were many statues associated with exploitation of native peoples.  The city of Columbus had three statues of Columbus. Two statues were taken down, this statue was removed June 19, 2020. In 2022 the Knights of Columbus by the greater campus of Mount Carmel Basilica were given the statue.

Downtown Youngstown is compact. There are government buildings, Butler Art, YSU, ethnic churches (some closed). Right by the art museum is this sign, behind the museum is Youngstown State University.

A mansion across from the art museum is very well landscaped, and a penguin statue looks out at the street. Penguins are comically likable.

entrance to YSU

Butler does it

It is an electronic sign that rotates images. This shew, at that moment, Butler Institute of American Art's painting of honor, one of the two Winslow Homer's Snap the Whip 1872. I took fotos of the real work, but they had reflections of lights from the glass. Joseph G. Butler Jr. founded the  museum in 1919. His personal collection of art went there. It was the first art museum to be exclusively filled with American works. His father, and grandfather were iron magnates. He expanded to steel, Youngstown became the third largest steel producer in the United States. His museum was philanthropy, it has remained free to enter and view.

Norman Rockwell. Lincoln the Railsplitter. 1965. 

 Originally this was in the lobby of Lincoln Savings, Spokane; then Ross Perot had it. Butler Institute of Art purchased it at auction in 2006 for $1,808,000. Karma had no knowledge of the provenance.

Who is the loveliest hound of all?

Arsen Roje. To Have and Have Not.

Marc Sijan. Seated security guard #2, Art. 

See the name badge. Some people have seen this, and believed the sculpture a living man, who would not acknowledge them. Others have taken fotos with Art. Now, there is a velvet rope around him. Sijan's work is very anatomically exact, hyper realistic. He does not sculpt the perfect body, but average bodies. Some people find his work a little creepy. Really the museum staff was very sociable, and everyone enjoyed Karma's presence.

John Massey Rhind. Apollo. Indian Scout. 1907.

George Segal. The Steelmakers. 1980, inside Butler.

George Segal. The Steelmakers. 1980, in front of Museum of Industry and Labor, across St. Columba Cathedral.