Dec. 16, 2016 – Slinger, WI – As the expansion of St. Peter Catholic Church in Slinger nears completion, members of the congregation are preparing a special time capsule to be buried in the walls; a special collection of mementos to relay the significance of this time in years to come.
Rev. Rick Stoffel spoke Thursday about a possible time capsule that exists in the 1897 portion of St. Peter Church.
“It’s most likely in the cornerstone,” he said. “Which the parish chose not to open during the current renovation.”
A new time capsule in the form of a copper box sat wrapped in plastic on a nearby desk. That box, donated by the Knights of Columbus, will be placed inside the main covered entryway at St. Peter; the area is referred to as the grand stairway.
Construction crews will cut into the drywall, place the capsule within the wall, reseal the wall and place a plaque over the seal. No specific date, according to Rev. Stoffel, will be set for it to be reopened.
“That decision will be left to future generations,” Stoffel said.
The first draft design of the plaque to be placed over the time capsule was just completed Wednesday evening. The time and date of the placement of the time capsule is still to be determined.
The time capsule will contain the following items:
- A scroll containing the signatures of parish members.
- A collection of four of the church’s recent pictorial directories, including one not dated but believed to be from the 1980s, one from 1993, one from St. Peter’s Sesquicentennial in 2006, and the current edition from 2013.
- An edition of the Archdiocese Catholic Herald from October of 2016, containing an article about St. Peter’s renovation project.
- A 2017 Slinger Advancement Association calendar.
- A medallion commemoration of the 2014 Archdiocese Synod.
- A coin from World Youth Day in Krakow Poland 2016.
- Several Knights of Columbus medallion coins.
- A coin from the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy from Dec. 8, 2015 through Nov. 20, 2016 and a copy of the prayer from the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.
- A magnet commemorating the canonization of St. Theresa, who was canonized as a saint during the renovation project.
- A pencil and leaflet from the St. Peter’s school children.
- A rosary made by the religious education children.
- A jumpdrive containing sounds and sights of parish life during the year.
- A brass bell from the school children.
- Pictures and the yearbook from 2013.
- A pair of Precious Feet pin commemorating the Parish’s support of the Right to Life of the unborn.
- A letter from the artist involved in the restoration of the altar, detailing what he did and how he did it.