Hope remains to save historic Catholic church engulfed in flames, Archdiocese says

MARIA STEIN — There’s a chance crews might be able to save a historic church that went up in flames on Thursday.

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Crews were called to the fire at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Maria Stein around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Workers on the roof were placing shingles when they saw smoke and called 911. Large flames and black smoke were later seen coming from the church.

While it hasn’t been cleared as safe to go inside yet, crews started the salvage work from the outside on Friday. They used cranes to pull the church bells out.

>> PHOTOS: Smoke, flames pour from large fire at local Catholic church

“It’s very hard to see, you know, the church is the center of our community,” Holly Rethman said.

As shown on News Center 7 at 5:00, community members, like Rethman, have spent years at St. John the Baptist.

“My kids were baptized here, they made their first communion, they married here, and I’ve buried two husbands here,” Kay Sanders said, calling the fire a “gut punch.”

On Thursday, parishioners watched the church burn, including the moments when the steeple collapsed and fell to the ground.

“Yesterday was definitely hard,” Rethman said. “And then, when we saw this steeple fall, the realization was this church is probably gone.”

That’s the fear, but News Center 7 learned Friday there’s hope that St. John’s could be saved.

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The roof either burned away or came straight down into the nave, and the steeple fell away from the church building.

“They think those two elements indicate that the walls may still be structurally sound,” Jennifer Schack, Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s Director of Media Relations.

The pastor at St. John’s and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati each said Friday that they are still assessing the damage and don’t know for sure, but that hope remains.

“The indication at this point is that the walls staying up is a very good sign,” Schack said.

The church community got a visit from Archbishop Robert Casey on Friday. He celebrated Mass at Precious Blood Catholic Church, which is just up the road from St. John’s in Chickasaw. The two churches are part of the same family of parishes.

The parish family live-streamed the 9 a.m. Mass on its Facebook page.

“This is what we do as family. When faced with difficult situations, when confronting the depth of mourning a loss, we come together, we lean on each other, we lean on God,” Archbishop Casey said during Mass.

Sanders was at the Mass and spoke to News Center 7 about the Archbishop’s visit.

“That meant a lot. I mean, that means he’s paying attention to us,” she said.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, the two normal weekend masses at St. John’s have been moved up the road to Precious Blood.

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