YOUNGSTOWN — With a plan to preserve the past while looking toward the future, the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown recently announced the creation of an archive center at the former SS Cyril & Methodius Church, 252 E. Wood St.

“The news we are about to share is certainly worthy of a press conference,” said Youngstown Bishop David J. Bonnar. “Because in a time and place where there has been decreasing population, economic challenges, business and church closings, I am delighted to say that we are breaking ground and building something new to preserve the faith and legacy of the six counties of our diocese.”

The bishop explained the importance of preserving church papers and his role.

“Canon Law mandates that a diocesan bishop is ‘to take care that there is an historical archive in the diocese and that documents are diligently protected and systematically ordered in it,” he said.

To fulfill this preservation effort, the bishop hired Joan Lawson as diocesan archivist and Hannah Shaw as assistant archivist.

“I am very excited about this moment. We are building a meaningful future by knowing our past,” Lawson said.

With Lawson and Shaw’s help, along with diocesan leaders, the bishop and his advisers searched for a location for the archive center. SS Cyril and Methodius Church in Youngstown was selected because it was the first Catholic church populated by Slovak immigrants in Mahoning or Trumbull counties. The building closed in 2022.

Lawson explained the reason that the church, built in 1900, was chosen for this project.

“One is that the historic structure is magnificent. It is a beacon on a hill as it is approached from the South Side and it is eminently worthy of preservation from its magnificent windows and its dome The site is also close to the seat of the bishop, which is also desirable in a diocesan archive. It is within the educational, research, museum district of our downtown. The building itself is sound and generations of worshippers there saw to its maintenance,” Lawson said.

She also explained that the church will house exhibit space and public programming in 3000 square feet of space. Presently, Kent State University stores diocesan archives from the years 1943 to 1978. This is 150 cubic feet of material.

“The biggest artifact in the exhibit is the building itself because of what it expresses about the immigrants arriving on our shores and within a short time of their arrival, the sacrifices they were willing to make to build up a magnificent worship space and how important that was to them, their faith and their culture,” Lawson said.

She revealed that an additional space will be built next to SS Cyril and Methodius Church that will be temperature and humidity-controlled to house the storage vault for all the historical documents. There also will be office space and an area for the public to do research.

During the press conference, the bishop unveiled a rendering of the future center that included the yet-to-be-built structure to archive the documents.