Volunteer firefighter Rick Hunter says the blaze started at the 138-year-old catholic church on the Kingsclear First Nation reserve near Fredericton at about 1 a.m.
He said about 30 firefighters were able to save two stone walls and the church's cross, and the flames were extinguished within 15 minutes.
Hunter says the cause of the fire is not known and could not say if it is suspicious.
He says community members are grief stricken and have been gathering outside the church to look upon the rubble.
On Saturday, the century-old Victoria Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, was also destroyed in a fire.
