Bethlehem's catholic community are in shock after watching St Theresa's Church burn before their eyes.

The Bethlehem Road church, governed by St Joseph's Te Puna – a branch of the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton – was destroyed in the blaze that broke out about 10.30pm on Thursday.

A police cordon outside the gutted St Theresa's Church on Bethlehem Road.

Residing priest Father Hemi Hekiera watched helplessly with a small group of churchgoers as fire gripped and destroyed the building.

'The people that were there are quite upset,” says a devastated Father Hemi.

'I went down because I wanted to know how much damage there was and I could see straight away it was very fully destroyed with some of the sides of the building still there.”

A priest in the area for the last four years, Hemi admits the church, next to Hangarau Marae, is an integral part of the Maori community, hosting a full Maori mass the first Sunday of every month.

'It's a pretty good number [we get], we do our mass once a month there, but it has a very Maori flavour to it; but other people besides Maori also come and they accept that sort of style and are happy.”

Father Hemi says church caretaker Janice Smith is currently away and the church has been unopened for a number of days, which may have been a factor in the fire.

'If she was home she would notice any sparks or anything that might have been part of the fire. She hasn't been home so wouldn't have opened the church up or anything; she opens the church and shows it to people who want to view it.”

With charred remains all that is left of the church, Father Hemi says at some stage the church and the community will sit down to discuss what direction they will take in rebuilding the church.

He admits it's still too soon to comment on the exact approach likely to be taken.

'We are not too sure. We still have to talk about what's possible and it's still early days yet as it only happened Thursday night.

'We will work through that shortly. It's right next to the marae, so we will talk to the community about what they want.”

Tauranga Police CIB Detective Caroyln Crawford confirmed police are treating the fire as suspicious and have scene guards in places as detectives investigate the area.

Carolyn says police investigating the cause of the fire are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen any suspicious people or vehicles in the area at the time.

Anyone with information is to contact Tauranga police on 07 577 4300 or anonymously on 0800 Crimestoppers and quote file number 140207/5050.