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And two became one - St. Thomas the Apostle
In 2008, under the Spiritual Guidance of the Most Reverend George V. Murry, S.J., Bishop of Youngstown, the Diocese of Youngstown began a long process of facing the realities of demographic shifts, fewer priests, and the changing attitudes of Catholic people. The plan would affect all parishes and schools in the Diocese. The Bishop promulgated the Youngstown Diocean Reconfiguration Plan on May 28, 2010. This Reconfiguration Plan called for the merger of St. Bernadette and St. Vincent de Paul Parishes. General parish meetings began to be held in June of 2010 as to how we will proceed working together to ensure Catholicism in this part of Trumbull County in the future.
With that, a dream was born after the merger announcement was made to build a new Church near the current St. Vincent de Paul Church. We had been given a wonderful gift, an opportunity to start anew under a new parish name and a new church building. Nowhere else in the Diocese was this a possibility. Some churches were facing the reality of closing all together; we had the reality of new life in a new church. The new church would incorporate all the windows, statuary, and church furnishings from both buildings. The new building was formally dedicated on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, July 3, 2016 - and two became one. -
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History - St. Bernadette
In the early 1930's, St. Bernadette became a mission church of St. Patrick in Hubbard, OH. A small wood framed house was rented in October 1934 for Mass. Three years later, Bishop Joseph Schrembs, of the Diocese of Cleveland, decided that the mission had sufficient membership to establish a parish. On July 8, 1937, St. Bernadette was founded. On September 15, 1940 groundbreaking for the Locust Street building was done. One month later, October 27, 1940, the cornerstone was blessed and put into place in the basement under the sanctuary by Bishop James McFadden, the first Bishop of Youngstown. The parish completed construction by the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1940.
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History - St. Vincent de Paul
St. Vincent de Paul began in 1879 as a mission from the parish of St. Edward on the north side of Youngstown. In 1902, the misssion was closed, yet Catholics few in number, still met in their homes for prayer and fellowship. In 1932, the St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Rose parish in Girard decided to restart a parish mission in Vienna, because of the growing number of Catholic families that had to travel to Girard for church services. Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland was so impressed by the faith and determination of the Catholics in Vienna, he made it a parish rather than a mission of St. Rose. The newly formed parish was given the name of St. Vincent de Paul, after the Society in Girard who rekindled the desire to take care of the spiritual needs of the Catholics in Vienna. Fr. James Gaffney became the first pastor of the parish on August 22, 1934. The brick church structure completed in 1950 has now been converted into a funeral home when the current church was dedicated in 2016 on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle on Sunday, July 3.
