CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A time capsule opened in Omaha has made its way back to Cedar Rapids, where the pieces of history from a Catholic convent originated.
The Rev. Kenneth Glaser, pastor of St. Ludmila’s Church, said he decided to open the convent’s time capsule in Omaha, rather than Cedar Rapids, so the retired nuns who lived there and taught at the school would be able to see it.
About 20 nuns watched the time capsule opening last week at the Notre Dame Sisters Motherhouse in Omaha, including a dozen who had taught at St. Ludmila Elementary School, Glaser said.
Nuns who taught at St. Ludmila School gather to watch the opening of the convent’s time capsule in Omaha, Nebraska. (photo/Rev. Kenneth Glaser)
Sister Ernestine Havlovic, one of the seven Notre Dame nuns serving in Cedar Rapids in 1961 when the convent was built, was among the nuns who saw the time capsule opened, he added.
Parishioners this weekend had a chance to see those items, which were on display at St. Ludmila Church, 211 21st Ave. SW.
Photos, church records and a church bulletin were among the items found in the 10-inch-wide, 5-inch-tall copper box.
The convent’s 1961 cornerstone and time capsule were among items on display Nov. 23, 2024. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Sister Mary Frances Michalec, a former teacher and principal of St. Ludmila School who traveled to Omaha for the time capsule opening, said she and the other nuns were surprised the box did not contain a rosary, small statue or holy cards.
Sister Aloysius Balik, who was among the active nuns at the time, probably would have wanted to include a statue of St. Joseph, Michalec said, so the nuns surmised that the priest at the time, the Rev. Albert Zachar, had assembled the artifacts.
A photo of the priest from his time in the U.S. Navy was among the items in the time capsule. Michalec said Zachar came to St. Ludmila’s after his time in the service.
Sister Ernestine Havlovic, left, and Sister Mary Frances Michalec were among the nuns who watched the time capsule opened in Omaha. (photo/Rev. Kenneth Glaser)
The first Notre Dame Sisters arrived in Cedar Rapids in 1914 from what was then Czechoslovakia to open a school in the city’s Czech immigrant neighborhood. They lived in a house that also served as the school.
A church was built for the parish in 1926, which was demolished in 2000. The new church opened in 2001.
Designed by architect Leo Peiffer, the 1958-built elementary school was demolished in 2023, and plans call for the 1961 convent, also designed by the acclaimed Cedar Rapids architect, to be demolished this year to make way for green space and a prayer garden.
The St. Ludmila convent, built in 1961 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is slated to be demolished this year. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Cedar Rapids historian Mark Stoffer Hunter alerted church leaders to the cornerstone and possibility of the time capsule.
Related: Cedar Rapids parish plans to demolish Mid-Century convent
Glaser said the convent had been used for offices until the new parish center was constructed. The nuns had stopped living there about 25 years ago, he said, “so it hasn’t been used as a convent since then.”
Chronicles from the Notre Dame Sisters noted that the cornerstone of the convent was blessed on Dec. 10, 1961. The event had been scheduled for Oct. 1, and then Oct. 29, but was postponed both times due to rain.
When the blessing finally took place, it was snowing, and an open house of the unfinished convent followed.
A photo of the Rev. Albert Zachar in his military uniform was among the items in the time capsule. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Father Zachar brought the Blessed Sacrament from the old convent the next month and held the first Mass in the convent dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, in memory of Monsignor Francis Hruby, who had died in 1960.
Hruby was appointed the first official pastor of St. Ludmila in 1922 and a copy of his obituary was included in the time capsule.
Carrying on a Czech cultural tradition, St. Ludmila’s Church is known for its long-running Kolach Festival.
See photos from a past kolache bake and more from the time capsule, below:
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