A year later, Saint Mary's hold memories of past without church

MORNING VIEW, Ky. - Saint Mary Church looked over the small community of Morning View for over 100 years.

On March 2, 2012 a tornado ripped through the community, leveling the cornerstone that sat on a hill, surrounded by tombstones that date back to the 1880s. Before that the church was destroyed by fire and flood.

Today as the fourth version of the church awaits its fate, it’s salvaged parts are kept in a garage.

"These are the pew ends, a number of the pew ends that are still in good shape,” Father Michael Barth said as he surveyed the remains of the small Catholic parish. “Most of the pews broke in half, or were totally flattened."

Other items found strewn throughout the cemetery and near the church include candlesticks, the processional cross, and priest’s chair.

Barth said it was these physical connections, salvaged by the wreckage, that are more important than the building.

"The generations that will come after us will also look at these and say oh yes, my grandparents were believers too, just as I am," Barth said.

Parishioners still wait to here from its insurance provider before it can decide where and how to rebuild Saint Mary’s.