Fr. Carmelo Giuffre shows the contents of a 1921 steel time capsule found during the demolition of the former St. Frederick’s School in Cudahy. (Photos by Kristen Kubisiak)
“Does anyone know German?”
The question drew some good-natured laughter — and even an offer to pull up Google Translate — as Fr. Carmelo Giuffre addressed the people gathered in the narthex of Nativity of the Lord Church in Cudahy after the Nov. 15 Mass.
Fr. Giuffre, who is shared pastor of St. Veronica, Nativity of the Lord and St. Paul, donned black surgical gloves along with his clerics, as he presented an aged and yellowed newspaper in a foreign language for the crowd’s inspection.
It was a day more than a century in the making, as those gathered hoped to glimpse the contents of a steel time capsule placed beneath the cornerstone of the building that once housed St. Frederick’s parish school. The 1921 time capsule was uncovered during the demolition of the school building in early November.
Declining enrollment led to the school’s closure in 1970, and in the late 1990s the parish joined the newly formed Nativity of the Lord, which worships in the former St. Frederick’s church building.
The site is the site of the future home of Project Concern — a food and clothing pantry serving low-income individuals and families in Cudahy and St. Francis that has outgrown its current location in the church basement. Construction is likely in 2027.
The capsule, which had commemorated the 25th anniversary of St. Frederick’s Parish, held local newspapers dated July 1921 — including The Enterprise and The Catholic Citizen — a list of parishioners belonging to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a roster of students enrolled that year, and several documents and a newspaper written in German.
The excitement of the day was mingled with disappointment, as the box had not been properly sealed, and decades of water seepage left many of the papers crumbling in hand.
Despite the damage, parishioners found deep meaning in the discovery. Many eagerly scanned the faded names, searching for parents, grandparents or neighbors whose lives once revolved around the church and school.
For Steven Shea, a 14-year member whose wife’s family belonged to the parish in 1921, the moment was bittersweet.
“I’m kind of disappointed at the state of the contents, but it’s exciting to see what they put in,” he said. “I just wish it was in better shape.”
His wife, lifelong parishioner Laura Kukor-Shea, who attended St. Frederick’s School just as her father did, described the event as personally significant.
“It’s just really exciting to see this because I’ve lived my whole life here and belonged to this parish my entire life,” she said. “I was in sixth grade in 1970 when the school closed.”
The event spurred Kukor-Shea to reminisce about her family’s deep roots in the area, including her grandparents who owned a neighborhood grocery store.
Other attendees reacted with a mix of humor and nostalgia. Mary (Ollmann) Gaidosh, who appeared in a 1950s volleyball team photo displayed at the event with other retro photos taken after the time capsule was placed, admitted she had expected even less to survive the century underground.
“I thought there’d be crumbs,” she said. “I really did.”
She and others were excited to see additional old photos on display — separate from the time capsule — that added to the celebration.
“We took first place in volleyball that year in Cudahy’s month-long intramural league,” she said. “I think it was 1955 or ’56.”
Pat Rozek, a parishioner of 50 years, helped organize the event and selected the old photos for display with the hopes that those who attended the event might be able to identify some of those pictured for parish history. She was delighted as Gaidosh identified the volleyball players — most of them by first and last name.
Gaidosh was joined by Ruth Glatkowski, another St. Frederick alumna, who has since moved to Greenfield. Glatkowski attended Mass at Nativity of the Lord that day just to see the time capsule.
“You don’t know what to expect,” she said. “It was a little sad that so much had disintegrated, but it makes sense.”
The unveiling sparked a renewed interest in preserving the parish’s present for future generations, and Fr. Giuffre announced plans to create a new, properly sealed time capsule — one that would include modern artifacts to be opened in about 25 years.
Fr. Giuffre said the new capsule will be prepared in January.
“Even though we’re going to have walkers 25 years from now, most of us will still be alive then,” Fr. Giuffre said. “We will show the people in 2050 how far we’ve come.”
