Beloit church builds back up after fire

BELOIT, Kan. (KSNW) – In 2021, a fire damaged the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Beloit. The fire was contained to a tower, and there was minimal structural damage but lots of smoke damage.

“I was taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon when it happened, and heard shouts out in the street and looked out the window and saw people pointing to the tower,” Pastor Jarrett Konrade said. “And I looked up and saw the smoke, and so, I ran out. The local fire guys were already working to put out the flames. Thankfully, it had been found by a parishioner here that afternoon before it was able to spread outside of that southeast tower.”

They began assessing the damage, and support poured in.

“It was really beautiful to see just the number of people who have been affected by this parish over the years,” Konrade said. “And that came through in some of the initial donations. There was a GoFundMe page that started it initially, but that also brought about some connections with people who were either alumni of the Catholic school or of the public school but had connections here to this church that are spread all over Kansas, but even beyond to other states as well. That initial process of support and the significance of this church kind of became much more apparent through that process.”

Throughout the restoration process, everything kept falling into place.

“As we’ve gone through this process to see time after time after time, God’s providence and his hand on so many aspects of it,” Konrade said. “So we’ve had local individuals who have moved into the community in the last three and a half years that actually did major significant parts of the painting of the stations, to the choir loft being restored. That was all done by individuals who had actually moved into this community. And so just seeing God’s providence in that as well has been a beautiful a beautiful scene through it all.”

Most of the work in the church is complete, and services started in September 2023. They expect the $3.5 million project to be completed by Easter.

“There’s not an inch of this church that hasn’t been touched in some capacity,” Konrade said. “So it’s been a beautiful process and a big process.”

Greg Holdren moved to Beloit right before the fire happened and used his artistic talents to beautify the church.

“The church, being the house of God, should express the love of God to anybody who walks in, and the beauty of a church is something that draws people in,” Holdren said. “My particular part in contributing to the beauty of this church was to repaint some of the bits and pieces like all of the Stations which you see. The Stations of the Cross going around the church here were originally sort of pale. They just needed some life to them.”

Holdren is one example of how the right people continually showed up to help. Another person moved from Denver and knew how to work with a wooden structure in the church.

“In the grand scheme of things, what’s more important? I mean, this is the house of God,” Holdren said. “We believe that God is well and truly present right here, right now. And if I’m going to give my time to something, this is it. This has got to be it.”

Janet Hesting is a parishioner and says when the fire first happened, people were in disbelief. Now, she has a new perspective.

“When I look at today and the providential nature of that and what has happened since then, our community coming together for this project and just the beauty that we’ve been able to restore back to our church, you just see God’s hand in so many of the people that he placed here that contributed,” Hesting said. “Just all too coincidental to be coincidental.”

From the start, she says they always had people helping regardless of what they needed.

“I think nearly 200 people showed up to undo all the pews, move everything out of the church,” Hesting said. “And then another group, when we were ready to move back, did the same thing. Over and over again, people that came and just did all kinds of things as needed. All I had to do was send a text and an email, a social media post, and people would show up. It’s just been a beautiful experience to be as involved in it as I was. I just really consider it a great blessing to have been a part of helping restore this church with this whole community.”

Andrew Niewald has lived in Beloit for 30 years and is the second generation of his family in the church.

“On so many levels, this church is all I ever grew up with, but I have, in time, grown to appreciate the work that our ancestors put into it to make it,” Niewald said. “And you feel some sort of responsibility towards maintaining it and making sure it’s around for my own children and future generations.”