By Josh Margolis
ROCKY BOY, Mont. (NMB) – A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday afternoon on the site that the new St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Rocky Boy is being built.
In December 2019, a defective furnace started a fire that destroyed the entire Church. There were no injuries, but the Church was a total loss.
Since then, Father Joseph Tran says they’ve raised over $2 million towards the construction of a new Church.
“I feel really, really happy, really excited. Not only for me, but for the whole community, especially the people here on Rocky Boy. It will be a new beginning for us as a community. So we are really happy and excited.”
The original Church was built back in 1979 out of 200 logs from the Reservation. One of the people who helped build it, Father Pete Guthneck, was at the groundbreaking for the new building.
“Life and faith and living, suffering, dying, rising continue here. And we’ll have a space for expressing that in our prayers and in our ways.”
The cost of the project is estimated to be about $2.5 million, and Tran says construction twill take at least a year.
