Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

Many of our Altar Bread Dept. patrons have generously agreed to help us with our Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories Fundraising Project.  Some pastors have taken up a collection, some have allowed us a one-time use of their parish mailing list, some are posting our brochure in their bulletins.  We have some pastors who are willing to do the mailing for us to their parishioners.  We have even received donations from individuals.  Donations so far have totalled $6,500.  They are coming to us from Maryland, Nevada, Texas, Minnesota Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and many other states.  We are most grateful for any help and the many prayers you are offering up.  Our prayer for you is a rich blessing of God’s grace.

We have begun to carefully remove the old metal ceiling tiles and set them aside for future use. 

Metal Ceiling Tile

They actually were not difficult to remove once we got one started. Then we had access to the edge of the adjacent pieces and could get a small still putty knife wedged under the edge and the brads popped straight out.

This is one of the metal tiles that had been cut to fit a small area. 

open ceiling with tiles removed

This shows the ceiling with all the metal tiles removed in one of the rooms. Over the years, when we’ve had to cut into a wall or other area over for some repairs or general maintenance work, we often find something of interest. 

newspaper fragments from 1914

Above the metal ceiling we found these fragments of a newspaper from 1914. The language appears to be Polish. Not sure why they ended up there, but it’s interesting.

Old chalk board from academy

Then we found part of an old chalk board that still had writing on it. It is most likely from the days of the Academy, our boarding school for girls in the early 1900’s. This piece of chalk board had been used to patch a hole in the wall in a closet where some plumbing had been added in later years. 

It will be interesting to see what turns up next!

The Sisters officially began the deconstruction of the Marian wing this month. This wing served many purposes over the past 100 years. It was originally constructed to house a girls’ academy where the Sisters taught. Later, it became the infirmary for sick and elderly Sisters. Most recently it served as guest space for our senior Sisters as they relocated from Our Lady of Rickenback as a result of a fire on Easter Sunday. Today it stands as underutilized space that must be heated and maintained. 

These past couple of days, we have had what we call “Community Days” which allows Sisters to have a more relaxed schedule. An irresistable opportunity presented itself when Sr. Sean, our prioress, invited anyone who wished to come help with the deconstruction.

Pulling nails from boards

Equipped with  hammer, screwdrivers, and nail-pullers, we set to work.

The wooden door frames, as well as the doors, are a beautiful maple wood. Some of the trim boards, as in this photo, were found to have “Benedictine Convent” stamped on the back. This dates back to the years immediately following World War I, when this section was completed.

Nails are saved for scrap iron salvage. It’s amazing how heavy a 5-gallon bucket of nails can get!

Shelving, as seen below, had old contact paper on it. This paper is being removed in order to re-use the wood.

Removing contact paper and some wiring

Also, the white painted tubing shown in the cardboard box is electrical conduits which had served as down-rods for ceiling fans. We’re pulling the wire out of this and taking off the junction boxes. The wire is #12 copper and is also saved for copper salvage. The ceiling fans are mostly about 10 to 15 years old but still work. Items such as these will be set aside for a future sale. 

Stay tuned for what comes next!