Gas Explosion, Fire Destroys Hostyn Church
Atop one of the highest hills in Fayette County, the Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church was witness to thousands of memorable celebrations – baptisms, first communions, weddings – since it was built in 1966.
But the site of those events is no more.
The historic church was destroyed by a massive natural gas explosion Thursday, June 9.
A church member arrived early for the 7 a.m. Mass. Authorities said she was in the process of lighting a candle, which ignited a gas leak that had filled the church.
The force of the explosion blew the roof into adjacent trees in multiple directions and shattered glass covered the parking lot.
The injured church member, an elderly woman (who the Diocese has requested that we not identify), was helped to safety by Father Felix Twumasi, who lives adjacent to the church, and another parishioner who was coming to Mass. Both were very near the church at the time of the explosion but were uninjured.
The injured woman was transported to Dell-Seton Hospital in Austin. As of Friday she was still in serious condition.
“This was a bad deal. Our thoughts are with the injured woman and the entire congregation,” said La Grange fire chief Frank Menefee.
The blast was so powerful that people said they felt it miles away, and the smoke plume was so large that Chief Deputy Randy Noviskie saw it 20 miles away in Fayetteville as he rushed to the scene.
The first 911 call came into Fayette County dispatchers at 6:27 a.m. Firefighters from La Grange, Schulenburg, Muldoon and Fayetteville responded to the scene and fought the fire until 5:37 p.m.
Forty firefighters in all worked at the fire, Menefee said.
They were joined by Pct. 2, 3 and 4 crew members and water trucks who shuttled water for the fire fight.
At midday, Joe Rogers donated use of his equipment to knock down some of the walls of the church, which were barely standing anyway. He also removed portions of the metal roof that had fallen inward. That allowed the firefighters to put out more of the burning areas.
The tabernacle of the church (the ornate vessel that holds the consecrated Eucharist near the altar) was able to be saved, retrieved by La Grange firefighter Todd Johnson, a member of the church.
Later in the evening Thursday and also Friday morning some spots of the church began burning again and firefighters responded.
Twice Thursday as the fire was still burning additional emergency calls came in from other parts of the county (an ATV accident in Plum and a house fire in Muldoon) and some first responders had to leave for those events.
“The ability of our first responders to spread themselves thin and still get the job done is remarkable,” Emergency Management Coordinator Craig Moreau said.
Members of La Grange ISD administration came via a school bus and helped Feed the Need volunteers make and distribute hamburgers and drinks to the first responders.
Even more so than the 56-year-old church, the church grounds at Hostyn are well known with numerous nearly 100-year-old shrines, a large grotto and stone Stations of the Cross circling the church. All of those exterior structures appeared undamaged by the explosion.
This is not the first fire to destroy a church at Hostyn.
In 1906, the third incarnation of the church burned to the ground and a new church was finished in 1908.
In the 1950s, Franklin and Julia Kreische (of the Kreische Brewery family) donated to Holy Rosary Parish and to the Archdiocese of San Antonio three hundred and forty-four acres of land located on the bluff, on the banks of the Colorado River.
On June 17, 1965, the Kreische property was sold to Frisch Auf for $700 per acre and the new Hostyn church was built with some of those proceeds. That church cost $135,000 to build back then and had served the parish for 56 years until Thursday. Shocked church members gathered at the church grounds throughout the day and evening to say goodbye to the facility and share memories.
Friday church officials announced that regular weekend Masses (5 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays), would continue to be held at Hostyn at the adjacent church hall, which was undamaged by Thursday’s event.
Gas Leak Detectors Urged
Thursday’s event had caused numerous locals to re-examine the safety of their own homes, businesses, churches, etc. especially when those facilities have natural gas or propane.
Moreau said he advocates for people to install gas leak detectors, and “ideally tie them into your alarm system” if possible. Moreau said they can be found online and at local hardware stores for under $50.
“Unfortunately those type of flammable gas detectors are not as commonly used as smoke detectors but both are so important,” Moreau said.