When the construction crew began renovations at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, they expected to find nothing more than dust and rubble behind the cathedral’s walls.
Instead, they discovered a time capsule. Four months later, on the 50th anniversary of the Arlington diocese’s establishment, it was restored, with new items added Aug. 13 for a new generation to ponder.
Pavlo Villhauer, a parishioner of St. Rita Church in Alexandria and a project manager for Forrester Construction, discovered the time capsule during the removal of the old cornerstone April 9. “When we removed it, I noticed the little tin,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s probably a time capsule.’ ”
The crew reached out to diocesan archivist Lindsay Alukonis.
“I went back into the records for the cathedral and thought, ‘Absolutely no way this is a time capsule. We have nothing on it,’ ” she said. “I thought for sure that I would get there, and it would be something else. But the second you saw the cornerstone with the box sitting inside it, it was obvious that it was a time capsule.”
Alukonis immediately contacted Father Michael D. Weston, diocesan director of divine worship, and Father Patrick L. Posey, cathedral rector. Both priests were present when the capsule was opened. Alukonis dated the time capsule to 1961, when the cathedral was originally St. Thomas More Church, a parish within the Diocese of Richmond.
But what was inside the time capsule? A good deal of moisture and water, according to Alukonis and Villhauer, but multiple items survived the water damage, including coins minted between 1958 and 1961, a silver certificate $1 bill, lists of the church’s architects and builders, a 1961 article from The Washington Post on the church’s construction, and a 1961 article from the Catholic Virginian on adult confirmations. The Arlington Catholic Herald began in 1976. Alukonis delivered the old time capsule to a conservator, who will restore the tin and return it to the diocese.
“It’s a cool thing, to see what was in there and what the people of the time thought was important to go into a time capsule,” Father Weston said.
A new, water-resistant time capsule was placed behind the new cathedral cornerstone Aug. 13, a half-century after Bishop Thomas J. Welsh was installed as the first bishop of Arlington.
Inside the new time capsule are the original capsule’s contents, as well as a letter written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge to the future diocese, a June 2023 Catholic Herald article announcing the cathedral renovations, a lapel pin with the diocesan crest, two Diocesan Golden Jubilee prayer cards, a rosary blessed by Pope Benedict XVI, a copy of the diocesan strategic plan, and an invitation to the Sept. 5 Mass dedicating the cathedral’s new altar.
“Today is a little bit historic in that we will place the time capsule into this edifice,” said Bishop Burbidge. “Lindsay has done a great job in putting the articles together that, who knows, 25 years, 50 years from now, people will be looking at this moment and time and remembering what we do here today. We’re part of a legacy.”
Bishop Burbidge prayed a blessing over the new cornerstone and those gathered. Alukonis presented him with the time capsule, inside a gray zipped water-resistant bag, which he placed inside the cornerstone’s edifice. Masons Adam Flores and Raul Martinez then placed and sealed the new cornerstone.
The cornerstone installation was one of the final steps in the cathedral renovations.
“It’s amazing to see just a total transformation of the cathedral,” said Father Posey. “It’s not just some paint, but it’s just really, inside and out, a beautiful transformation of a place of worship.”
Alukonis reflected on how the time capsule connected two dioceses: the Richmond diocese that included Northern Virginia in the past and the present Arlington diocese.
“We think of St. Thomas More as our cathedral, but this time capsule was placed in St. Thomas More, the parish,” she said. “They never would have imagined that one day, we would place a time capsule in a cathedral.”
