Czech-Catholic shrine remains the ‘peak of peace’ in Loma because of volunteers

LOMA, Neb. (KOLN) - All that's left in Loma are a few homes, grain bins, a closed down hardware store and tavern and remnants of a movie set.

But it's exactly what this photographer is looking for.

"I've been doing a project on interesting places in Nebraska and surrounding states about maybe the way it was once upon a time," said James Scholz, who brought his camera and tripod from Omaha.

Standing out among boarded-up buildings is St. Luke's Czech-Catholic Shrine.

"To find (a building) where it's almost like a historical preserve - that really delighted me when I drove in," Scholz said.

Czechoslovakian farmers built the wooden church on the hill in 1912.

"Every window has a family name on it," said James Kriz, who helps take care of the shrine. "And those families - most of them have people in the area, including myself. My great-grandpa's name is over there."

Kriz said one of the stained-glass windows has a beehive on it to remember a St. Luke's priest who kept bees. In the early days of the church, 12 windows cost $50 each, and the building started out with an overall budget of $4,500.

"And I know that it was built after another church that's located down by Deweese, Nebraska," Kriz said. "Supposedly, that one is a spitting image of this one."

Kriz remembers being an altar server at St. Luke's during summer mass, without air conditioning.

Lyle Divis also grew up in the Loma community, singing with the choir or sometimes alone in the balcony.

"It's the peak of peace on the hill," Divis said.

Despite the village's Czech origins, the word "Loma" translates to "hill" in Spanish. The community popped up because of the railroad that was constructed in the Bohemian Alps between the years of 1876 through 1879.

A "Divis" is listed among the church's founders in a document written by Monsignor Myron Pleskac.

It mentions parishioners paying rent per pew. This contribution helped alleviate the church's debt, which grew during the 1930s.

"The churches need money all the time, so you got to be a part of the church or the church would die otherwise," Divis said.

While managing the family farm, Divis spent his time fixing the roof of St. Luke's, mowing the grounds, cleaning up flies that sneak in and using his own money to supply more statues and furnishings.

He sees this work as his "tithing."

"If you can't keep it going, it will die on the vine," Divis said, grasping a St. Luke's Loma Czech-Catholic Shrine postcard.

The painting on the postcard transports people back to when Loma was thriving.

The first settlers resided in sod houses. The first structures were a grain elevator with an office and a small store. Then a second elevator was built with a lumber yard and a hardware store. The town used to have a dance hall and more recently, a tavern.

The village of Loma was officially platted by John Nabity on December 5, 1901. Twelve years later, Czech farmers rallied together to build St. Luke's Catholic Church.

For the first mass, the people arranged for a train to transport people from Wahoo to Loma.

A sign along the Oak Creek Trail, shows a photo of when the railroad was removed from Loma in Dec. of 1993.

As the town's population dwindled, so did the congregation at St Luke's. At one point, the building wasn't really being used, until the 1990s when a movie was filmed in Loma called "To Wang Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newman."

The locals cleared out the church to make room for movie offices.

"It was an interesting movie for the time," grinned Kriz. "I think today, it wouldn't raise much of an eyebrow."

It's about three drag queens, played by Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo, who break down in a small town called Snydersville.

"My parents came and met some of the people at some of the events that they had here," Kriz said. "They were really good. There were a lot of locals - handful of locals just as extras in the background."

Kriz remembers a hotel being built across from the church for the movie, but that building has been removed. While filming in Loma, the movie crews paid rent and left a donation that helped turn the lost parish into St. Luke's Czech-Catholic Shrine.

"The initial donation, I think it was about $5,000," Kriz said. "That kind of got the ball rolling, and of course there were generous people and families in the area that contributed."

Loran Stara, who grew up in Bruno, built a replica of the high altar at St. Luke's. He taught construction at Southeast Community College in Milford and built hutches and cabinets in his home shop in Lincoln.

The Lincoln Journal Star published an about this feat in 1997. Stara was passing through Loma, and Divis happened to be at the church and commented, "If only we could get someone to rebuild the high altar for us..."

"(People) gave me pictures of weddings, anniversaries and baptisms," Stara said. "People told me an altar boy could fit behind the altar. From there, I could kind of scale the altar and knew how tall it had to be."

Stara said the original statues of St. Luke and Czech saints are perched at the top of the altar. Below the Marian altar is a unique statue of Jesus in the tomb that Kriz says is from Italy.

If you would like to visit St. Luke's Shrine, Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Brainard holds a mass in Loma to celebrate Christmas on the 4th Sunday of Advent. The address is 2654 West Rd, Dwight, NE 68635. You can visit the Holy Trinity Catholic Church website to get in touch with someone attached to the shrine.