Blessed is the Valley for the great works of MVACSFlb

In towns and cities across our nation where traditional values of compassion and moral decency continue to carry the day, church and community long have been inextricably tied. In Greater Youngstown for the past 100 years, the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches has served as the powerful glue bonding the two.

The association, which formed in 1916 as the Youngstown Federation of Churches, has launched a yearlong centennial to mark its impact and achievements. As it does, we pause today to congratulate the organization for its proud past, productive present and promising future.

Over the decades, the MVAC has amassed a cornucopia of good works toward strengthening bonds of faith within and across religions and in working to better the quality of life for all in our region through real-world application of shared ecumenical values of good will and kind hearts toward all.

THE GENESIS OF MVAC

The roots of the organization were planted six years before its founding when Billy Sunday, the most-celebrated and influential American evangelist of the early 20th century, visited Youngstown on a crusade to build support for more cross-church interaction. Such unity, he argued, would advance causes that coincide with core moral values of a variety of denominations and religions.

The Rev. Dr. William H. Hudnut, a longtime pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Youngstown, formed the federation in 1916. From its earliest years, the association worked diligently to build bonds among churches through pulpit- exchange programs. It also sought to spread its collective influence beyond the church doors.

Over the years, that influence has ranged from campaigns for Prohibition and Blue Laws to prevent business openings on Sunday to fighting attempts to implement a state lottery. While those efforts ultimately failed, the MVAC has a long track record of supporting and working for long-lasting productive change.

The MVAC has lent its credibility and authority toward passage of critically needed school levies. It has fought to ensure senior citizens in the Mahoning Valley are treated with the respect and dignity they have earned. It has worked to provide adequate food, shelter and a helping hand to those for whom life’s bounties have bypassed.

At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, it played key roles in providing a variety of support services for those with the disease, their families and loved ones.

Most notably in its history is perhaps the MVAC’s role in establishing the Ecumenical Coalition of the Mahoning Valley in the throes of the massive shutdown of the once mammoth steel industry in our region in the 1970s. Its short-term goal of reopening the mills failed, but its long-term mission of providing help for the jobless and forging strategies for industrial diversification succeeded.

In several respects, the laudable church association has been ahead of its time. Back in the 1970s, when our state and nation went on a prison-building spree, the association argued for fewer lockups and alternatives to incarceration. The MVAC also was a trailblazer in the development and growth of community food banks.

NOTABLE LEADERS

Though countless scores of people share in the proud legacy of the association, two leaders deserve special recognition: the Rev. Richard Speicher, who led the group through the tumultuous era of the disintegration of Youngstown’s industrial base; and Elsie Dursi, who before retiring a few years ago guided the group for nearly a quarter-century to growth and greater religious pluralism.

The present and future indeed look promising for the MVAC under the committed leadership of its executive director, the Rev. Dr. Robin Woodberry. As it celebrates this year, it also has grasped onto several important and timely goals for 2016.

One will focus on improving racial harmony and social justice for all in our community. Given the heightened conflicts over religion and race all around us today, that priority is indeed fitting.

Stronger efforts also are planned to unite leaders of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and other faiths to accentuate similarities – not differences. Doing so will complement its credo from Psalm 133 of the Bible: “How good it is when Brothers (and sisters) get along in harmony.”

To be sure, the Mahoning Valley has been blessed for, lo, these 100 years to have the MVAC serve as a compassionate shepherd for religious solidarity. We wish it success as it launches its second hundred years of building interaction, harmony and understanding among our diverse and devout faith communities.