AVILLA — Arson is suspected in a blaze that consumed the Zion Lutheran Church of Avilla’s old sanctuary on the morning of May 22, according to Special Agent Kevin Moran, public information officer for the New Orleans Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Parts of the building had been standing since 1895.
The sanctuary was home to the church’s offices, a food pantry, a clothes giveaway service and a ministry for those who received aid from the aforementioned services. The church was scheduled to give out food and have a service that Monday at the church.
“Evil doesn’t win the day,” the Rev. Michael Schleider said. “We were still able to regroup.”
Thanks to an outpouring of support, the church managed to provide all of its normal services the day of the fire.
“There were donations pouring in to restock our food pantry, even though we didn’t have freezers,” Schleider said. “So we had to scramble to get freezers again and get back in the groove. Neighboring churches, as well as people from quite a ways off, contributed to help us continue to help those folks around us. That Monday, we still gave out 90-something boxes of food.”
The church had just received a shipment of food, and the freezers that were lost were full. Schleider’s office was also destroyed, and his notes and numerous books along with it.
Meetings are taking place to determine what type of building will take the hallowed sanctuary’s place, although it is understood that a structure that old is nearly impossible to replicate. The church’s rich history lives on in members of the congregation’s memories, some passed down through generations.
In honor of the church’s 90-year birthday in 1972, Mildred Troboy, now 87, wrote about the church’s history in the Saline County News-Pacesetter. Troboy wrote that Avilla was settled in 1881 by Saxon immigrants from Germany: five men and a woman. Another 80 people made the trek from Dresden, Germany, and settled in the Alexander and Avilla area. In 1882, services were conducted outdoors for the church, but by 1883, the church had organized in the home of Henry Hoffman, Troboy’s great-grandfather.
The history stated that through the years, especially during the fear and paranoia surrounding World War II, the church was pressured into holding services in English only, doing away with the church’s tradition of conducting services in German as well.
Meda Scott, 86, has been a faithful congregant of the church all her life. She was the first of her family born in America. Her father eventually became a naturalized citizen, while her mother registered as a legal alien until she died. Tensions ran high when America joined World War II. Scott still remembers the regular searches of the family home.
“My brother, when he was younger, he had a little cap pistol,” Scott said. “One day [my mother] found that in his toy box. You know, he was already grown and in the Marines. One day when [the government] came to search the house, she said, ‘Here, we’ve still got this little cap pistol.’ And they took it.”
People get a little choked up when they talk about the loss of the church. Its roots run deep in Avilla.
“Oh my, that is still hard for me to talk about,” Scott said. “Yeah, it’s a really sad thing.”
Although she might get choked up talking about the fire, Scott seemed to enjoy reminiscing or talking about the community support the church received.
“A little store that sells secondhand clothes — it’s called Helping Hands — they were just going out of business,” Scott said. “And one of our members just happened to go over and talk to them to see if they had anything we could restock our clothes closet with because it had all burned up, too. They said, ‘You know what? We are gonna have to vacate this building in less than a week. You can have all of this.’”
Members of Zion Lutheran Church of Avilla and the support they have received seem to echo what Schleider said: “Evil doesn’t win the day.”