Bishop Jeffrey Fleming calls Poplar parish “part of the lifeblood of this community” as firefighters, clergy and residents confront the loss

POPLAR — Firefighters were still pouring water into the remains of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church Tuesday morning, hours after an overnight blaze gutted a building that had been part of life in Poplar for generations.

By daylight, much of the roof was gone. Heavy wooden beams were blackened and exposed. The sanctuary was devastated, and firefighters continued working through the ruins and extinguishing hotspots.

According to the Poplar Volunteer Fire Department, crews were paged at approximately 2:05 a.m. for a report of heavy smoke coming from the church. The first engine crew entered from the north side and extinguished flames in the center of the church before backing out to allow heavy smoke to clear. Firefighters later re-entered and discovered the fire had spread into the ceiling and rafters and was rapidly advancing through the structure. Crews then transitioned to a defensive exterior attack and Culbertson Volunteer Fire Department was called for mutual aid.

An official cause of the fire has not been announced. Earlier Tuesday, firefighters at the scene told The Journal that circumstances appeared suspicious and that they believed the fire may have been intentionally set. That has not been officially determined. By Tuesday evening, the Poplar Volunteer Fire Department said the scene had been turned over to local and federal authorities for further investigation.

Both the bishop overseeing the parish and the local priest later told The Journal that they had not been informed what caused the fire.

Some Poplar firefighters remained on scene for approximately 17 straight hours, according to the department. Crews also responded to two gas-line breaks later in the afternoon while continuing to deal with the aftermath of the church fire.

Bishop: Church will be rebuilt

Bishop Jeffrey Fleming of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings traveled to Poplar Tuesday and viewed the destruction firsthand.

Fleming described his reaction when he first learned of the fire as a “total shock.”

He told The Journal that Our Lady of Lourdes is insured and that the church will be rebuilt.

Asked what the Poplar parish means to the Diocese, Fleming said its importance extends far beyond the physical building.

“It’s very unique and it’s part of our presence up here,” Fleming said. “And it’s an important part of our legacy. It’s part of this community.”

Asked what the church means specifically to Fort Peck, Fleming pointed to the generations of people whose lives have passed through it.

“Well, being right on the main highway, I think it’s a separate part of the lifeblood of this community,” Fleming said. “The number of people that have come to celebrate here, Masses, funerals, baptisms, weddings, all of that history that’s tied into a place but also to our hearts.”

The loss inside appears extensive.

Fleming said church officials were not aware of any of the priceless artwork or distinctive religious pieces inside having been saved.

The Diocese is now working on immediate arrangements for the parish, including where Mass will be celebrated and how funerals and burials will be handled while the church is gone.

Fleming said he also had not been given an official cause for the fire.

A church unlike most others

For generations, Our Lady of Lourdes was Catholic, but it was also unmistakably Fort Peck.

Old Fort Peck Journal reporting documented how the church deliberately incorporated Native culture into Catholic worship.

The altar was covered with a white satin star quilt rather than a conventional Catholic altar cloth. Sweetgrass was used instead of traditional frankincense. The Stations of the Cross were framed in tipi-shaped designs and depicted Jesus, Mary and Mary Magdalene as Native people.

One of the most striking features of the church was a large stained-glass image of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the Mohawk woman canonized by the Catholic Church in 2012.

The window showed Saint Kateri with a deer, woods and blue sky behind her. Former parishioner Marge Abbott told The Journal years ago that many of the church’s distinctive design choices were made under Father Ryan to make the church more welcoming and meaningful to the local population.

Above the sanctuary was another unusual feature.

Rather than a large image of Christ suffering on the cross, Father Ryan chose a large figure of Jesus alive. According to the account previously given to The Journal, Ryan believed people in the community had already seen enough suffering.

Smudging and the Four Directions inside the church

The blending of Catholic and Native traditions was not limited to artwork.

During a Saint Kateri honoring at Our Lady of Lourdes, Kristofer Boyd, Curtis Crazy Bull, Jimmy John Chase and Nathan Chase were invited inside the church to take part in the ceremony.

Boyd recalled that he initially thought they might have to remain outside the doors to conduct the Native portion of the honoring.

Instead, they were welcomed inside.

They smudged the church and sang the Four Directions Song from within the sanctuary.

Old Journal coverage of Saint Kateri celebrations on Fort Peck likewise documented Catholic services combined with local Native culture, including hand drums and community feasts.

Our Lady of Lourdes also hosted a Saint Kateri Mass followed by a potluck feast, with organizers explicitly encouraging people to attend even if they were not Catholic.

“This is our church”

As residents came to look at the ruins Tuesday, many spoke less about the building itself than about the lives connected to it.

Rusty Boxer, 61, was near the burned church and remembered being there as a child.

“This is our church that burned down,” Boxer said.

That sense of ownership extended well beyond regular parishioners.

One local woman, Tara Longtree, recalled a deeply personal moment involving the Saint Kateri window.

Longtree said her mother, Alice Lester Longtree, was lying inside the church when she held her hand and told her she did not know how she could live without her.

She remembered the church suddenly filling with bright yellow light coming through the Saint Kateri stained-glass window.

Her mother told her she would always be with her.

That yellow light became part of the family’s memory of her mother.

Other residents recalled baptisms, First Communion, weddings, funerals, vacation Bible school and catechism classes.

For many Poplar children, even those who were not Catholic, the church was simply part of the rhythm of growing up in town.

At Poplar schools, one of the familiar end-of-day announcements for years was simple:

Catechism after school.

A refuge for someone who was not Catholic

The church also served people who had no formal connection to Catholicism.

My mother told me Tuesday that when she was younger and my father became violent during drunken rampages, she would sometimes have to run and find somewhere safe to hide.

Our Lady of Lourdes was one of those places.

She was not Catholic.

The church welcomed her anyway.

She remembered the doors being open and being allowed to remain there until she was safe.

That memory took on new meaning Tuesday as the building stood in ruins.

Priest: “The people are the church”

Father Anie Akama, who has served as priest at Our Lady of Lourdes since 2020, described his first reaction to the fire in four words.

“Shock, surprise. Everything. Confusion.”

But Akama said the destruction of the building does not mean the destruction of the parish.

“The people are the church,” Akama said. “They only destroyed the building. The people will find a place to meet. We will still meet.”

Akama said he also had not been told the cause of the fire.

Asked what he would say to Catholics in Poplar and across Fort Peck, Akama emphasized that the loss would not end the faith community.

“I would tell them that this is only an obstacle in our faith,” he said. “The faith belongs to us. We’re still keeping that alive. This will not destroy our faith.”

What remained Tuesday morning

Outside the burned church, a Peace Pole remained standing.

The pole carries the message “May Peace Prevail On Earth” in several languages.

Behind it stood the blackened remains of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Nearby, firefighters continued spraying water into the structure.

At one point, sunlight caught the mist from a fire hose and formed a rainbow over crews working the scene.

By Tuesday afternoon, news organizations from across the region were reporting on the fire.

But in Poplar, the story was already becoming something larger than a structure fire.

People were pulling out old photographs.

They were sharing memories of parents and grandparents.

They were remembering songs, funerals, weddings, baptisms, star quilts, sweetgrass and the colored light from Saint Kateri’s window.

The Diocese has said the church will be rebuilt.

For now, however, Poplar is confronting the loss of a place Bishop Fleming described as tied not only to history, but “to our hearts.”

And for Father Akama, the message to the parish remains simple:

“The people are the church.”