Program to examine historical church

LIBERTY

The Ethnic Heritage Society will sponsor a presentation on the history of St. Augustine Church, Youngstown’s only black Catholic parish, at 10 a.m. Saturday at Kravitz’s Delicatessen, 3135 Belmont Ave.

Beverly Blackshear, a former member of the church, will be featured at the event.

She will be joined by EHS co-director Tom Welsh, who has researched the history of the church and included some of it in his book, “Closing Chapters,” Lexington Books, 2011, which tracks the decline of Youngstown’s Catholic elementary schools.

Refreshments will be available.

The church, which operated on the city’s East Side from 1945 to 1958, should not be confused with St. Augustine Episcopal Church, a landmark on the North Side since 1921.

For information call Welsh at 330-792-7936 or Sandra Cika at 202-297-0362.