Taken from the weekly edition of Knighline:
Up From Ashes
Knights help restore a Minnesota church damaged by arson
The day after the fire, Jeffrey Czech drove with a sinking heart to his home parish in Elmdale, Minnesota, to assess the damage. Later determined to be an act of arson, the fire had been discovered by the pastor of St. Edward Church as he locked up for the evening July 18, 2023. Czech, a former firefighter, feared the worst when he heard the news.
“There was a lot of damage, but I just took a deep breath,” said Czech, grand knight of St. Gregory the Great Council 12604 in Bowlus. “I thought, ‘We have our work cut out for us. This is going to take a lot of work to repair, yet this is manageable.’”
Thanks to the quick response of two local fire departments, the flames had been contained before they spread from the sacristy, where the fire was lit, into the sanctuary. But many parts of the church — including the high altar, two side altars and the pews — sustained significant damage from heat, smoke and water. The sacristy needed major structural repairs, and numerous items, such as statues and Mass vessels, had to be repaired or replaced. All told, the damages came close to a daunting $1 million.
Read the rest of the article HERE