Gravelbourg lost a piece of history when fire destroyed the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Gravelbourg just before noon on December 28.
Rita Csada, president of the church council, learned about the fire when she got a call from a neighbour who lives next to the church close to noon on December 28.
Smoke was pouring from the windows. No one was present in the building at the time and no one was injured in the fire. The Fire Department is attributing the cause of the fire to wiring in the ceiling of the basement under the flooring near the altar area.
The Gravelbourg community has rallied around the St. Paul congregation. Some of the churches were offering the use of their buildings for the congregation to worship temporarily.
The building did not burn down completely, but it cannot be salvaged. Csada noted that the congregation now must deal with the aftermath and clean up involving such issues as insurance and dismantling. The church building is expected to be dismantled by the end of January. Some worship items were saved but many valuable and historical objects were lost. For example, a local artisan had made wooden crosses that were lost.
Meanwhile, the congregation has been shaken. There were many emotions right after the fire. “We feel a little lost,” said Csada about how the congregation was feeling in the days after the fire.
The congregation held a meeting on January 11 to discuss its future. Many options were on the table for discussion. Like many church congregations across Canada, St. Paul’s has seen membership decline over the decades. Now it faces a crossroads about rebuilding and growth in the future. The congregation is also holding an annual meeting on February 26 to put to the vote some of its decisions about its future.
For now, St. Paul’s Lutheran congregation is holding worship services in the chapel foyer at the Gravelbourg hospital on Sunday mornings. It’s an added bonus for patients who may not be able to go out to attend worship.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was built in 1925 in Mazenod and was then named St. John’s Lutheran Church. The building was later moved Gravelbourg in 1962 and renamed St Paul’s.
