Iqaluit (Oct 30/06) - They have been without their own church since April 13, 2004, but Catholics in Kugluktuk are only weeks away from again having their own place of worship.

When their last shrine burned to the ground - in a dramatic daytime fire that raged from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - 25 people a week were attending mass. Without a church of their own, the congregation fell to five to 10 people a week.

"Getting this building is very important for the Catholics. Without a church, we haven't had as many people coming," said Mary-Ann Westwood, a lay presider.

Church attendance has endured dips and rises before. The church was closed for five years until six months before the fire.

A new building arrived on the final sealift in September, and no one will have a problem finding it.

"It is in the same old spot, only four or five inches over from where it was before. It is down by the shore, about 60 feet away from the water," explained Westwood.

The building was slit down the middle and shipped in two parts. Putting those parts together was the remaining challenge for Westwood and her fellow Catholics.

"It is put together now, we just have to finish the floor. They are doing the electrical work now," said Westwood.

"We could be in by the second week of November, but the Bishop is in Rome, and we can't have a service there until the building is blessed," Westwood explained.

There is no full-time priest in Kugluktuk. The last one was Father Ovila Lapointe, who lived in the community from 1942 until 1992.