Staff photo / Bob Coupland .... The Rev. John Welch, pastor of St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Youngstown, which marked its 125th anniversary Sunday, shows a display of artifacts and other items on the church’s history. The display in the church hall included a gavel, rosaries, church groundbreaking shovel, cemetery map, Florence Avenue church bricks, Mary and Joseph statues, and anniversary books.

YOUNGSTOWN — One of Youngstown’s oldest churches celebrated a special milestone Sunday, marking 125 years in the community.

A special worship service and banquet celebration took place at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church off South Belle Vista Avenue on the West Side. The large church building includes the parish and a hall and has a membership of 250 families.

Rev. John Welch, who started as church pastor in May 2024, said “it’s incredible for us to mark this milestone. There are not that many churches that have this longevity. Our church is still growing and flourishing. This church has a lot of unity and fellowship.”

He shared in his liturgy the church’s history and growth.

Ken Giba of Youngstown said the church is dedicated to religion, education and family. He said the church was the first Byzantine Catholic church in Youngstown.

His brother, Paul Giba, also of Youngstown, said the church had its beginning in 1900 with many of the members coming from Dubova, Slovakia and later Austria / Hungary.

“All our grandfathers and grandmothers were founders of the church. We were all raised here. The church was a very active parish when we were growing up. There were 1,000 members in the 1960s and 1970s. That changed with the demise of the steel industry in the 1980s. We were all altar boys until we were 17 years old and then went to college. I went to law school,” Paul Giba said.

Ken Giba said many younger members went away to college or the families left to find jobs. He said over the years, the church has been able to bring back members and also attract new families.

He said the current church was constructed in the early 1960s and is the second church building. He said the church was at the former James Wick estate, which the church acquired in the 1950s.

He said the original church was on Florence Avenue near where the steel mills were because many of the immigrants in the early 1900s did not have cars.

David Ragan of Youngstown said the former church burned down in the early 2000s and the former property was sold by U.S. Steel. Ragan said events used to take place in the basement of the church until it was decided to build the church hall next door.

“The new hall was a much larger venue and not only supported the church, but also the Byzantine Catholic Seminary School,” Ragan said.

Paul Giba said the church hall was built by steelworkers who were losing their jobs because of the steel mills closing. He said the priest at the time, Father John Ycoback, told the congregation that if the men came to the church each morning to work he would feed them breakfast and lunch and blow the whistle at 3:30 p.m. just like they would if they were working at a mill.

“They created the Gratis Construction Company. The men were also skilled tradesmen such as electricians, carpenters, millwrights and plumbers,” Ken Giba said.

Welch said he likes the congregation. He is a married priest, which the church has not had for many years.

Ragan said in the 1930s and 1940s, there were married pastors and then there were none until it was allowed by policy after 2014. They said as a long as a man was married first, he was allowed to become a priest.

During the banquet, four longtime members, who are the oldest members, were recognized.

Those honored were Cathy Lutza, 97, of Youngstown; Alice Giba, 94; Rose Kohl, 92; and Mary Brown, 91, all of Austintown. Giba is the mother of Ken and Paul Giba.