REBUILDING ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI ‘ROCK’ CHURCH
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

To put the story of the reconstruction of the Rock into a proper perspective this fact has to be said and this truth has to be known. Bro. Terry and I would still be standing outside the church, and probably with the Yellow Pages in our hands, staring at the terrible destruction and wondering to our selves, “Where do we begin and what do we do?”, if it had not been for Mark Kamp.

Who is Mark Kamp? Mark is a very active parishioner of St. Alphonsus ‘Rock’ Church. Mark is also the owner of “Wachter Construction Company.” (he is going to kill me for telling you this.) Mark was here the night of the fire, and every time I saw him, he was on the phone. Why was he on the phone? The answer to this question will come out at the end of this article.

Let me share with you two very life giving and faith-filled incidents as the church burned.

Across the street, in the alley and in our parking lot, something very interesting and edifying was happening.  As the news of the fire spread by phone and T.V. parishioners, friends and alumnae of the Rock began to gather and watch. That seemed to be all they could do. Then they realized there was something that they could do and something very important. They could pray, so they began to pray the rosary. They were praying that our church would not be totally destroyed and they prayed for the safety of the firemen. Their prayers were answered. (I am sorry we have no pictures of that moment). 

Another little incident was happening behind the scenes, and I only found out about it much later after the fire. Chief Ken Smith, who was in command of the fire told me this. After he and other firemen had surveyed the situation, they realized that if the flames of the fire reached the towers, the towers would act like flue in a fire place, and if that happened we could say good bye to the church. So many, many pumper trucks were parked on Grand Blvd., and they pumped ‘copious amounts of water’ as Chief Smith said, onto the towers to prevent the flames from reaching the towers. 

Another command the Chief Smith gave to the firefights was that ‘under no condition or circumstances were they to break any of the stained glass windows. That command would come from him and him only, and it never came. The people praying the rosary across the street in the alley had another prayer answered.

Remember this question. Why was Mark on the phone? The next morning I found out why. Very early the next morning 10 of his workers showed up. A little later in the morning a truck full of plywood arrived. Mark told me that there were 2 very important tasks that had to be done and done very quickly. The windows and doors had to be boarded up to prevent any kind of vandalism and also to protect the windows from possible falling debris after the fire.

Again, we hope these pictures will help you appreciate and understand the rebuilding of the Rock.                     

By: Fr. Kyle Fisher, C.Ss.R.