On this day in 1989, the Fargo Diocese marked its centennial by burying a time capsule filled with artifacts from its first 100 years.

Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

Time capsule preserves past of Fargo diocese

By Christopher Sprung

STAFF WRITER

In celebration of their diocesan centennial, hundreds of area Roman Catholics Sunday gathered in St. Mary’s Cathedral Square in Fargo to bury their past and plot the navigational points of their future.

The burial of the past was, in fact, a celebration of the future, as the Most Rev. James S. Sullivan, Bishop of the Diocese of Fargo, placed artifacts representing the diocese’s first century into a time capsule. The capsule was interred in the square and will not be opened until the diocesan bicentennial in 2089.

The capsule, which contains, among other things, pamphlets detailing the diocese’s 50th and 75th anniversaries, videotapes, diocesan publications and a cookbook, was placed beneath a new centennial monument commemorating the occasion.

The monument was donated by the Knights of Columbus, Sullivan said. The base was constructed with the remains of an old altar once used in St. Mark’s Church in Bottineau, N.D.

From the cathedral, the crowd, which consisted of laity and clergy carrying banners and ribbons representing various churches in the diocese, walked in procession to Shanley High School where Sullivan celebrated the Mass, remembered the past and outlined the diocese’s objectives for the future.

“We have remembered the many events of the past that have shaped the church,” Sullivan said detailing the church’s work in the development of schools, churches and hospitals. “We have eagerly watched all of them open and sadly watched some of them close,” he said, reminding the crowd of the economic travail that has beset school systems.

“But now, today, we are looking at the past, but also squinting at the promising into the future,” Sullivan said as he plotted the course the diocese will take in the next century.

Saying too many Catholics do not accept the church’s clear position on moral issues and are wrongly selective in their practices, Sullivan implored the crowd to be “loyal to the ministry of the Gospel in every detail.”

Rueful of Catholics who do not embrace and practice all of the church’s teachings without exception, Sullivan called the idea of loyal dissent “absurd.”

Sullivan also directed attention toward the needs of Catholic families, which he called “the domestic church.” He warned families not to become encumbered in the trappings of a “self-centered, materialistic society.”

“We have a long way to go in passing the faith on to our children,” he said, adding that concerns of faith are rapidly being eclipsed by secular concerns of young people. “The rate of religious illiteracy is phenomenal today,” he said.

Other touchstones were the vocational and financial maladies of the diocese. Sullivan asked that the diocese work to double the number of men now studying for the priesthood at Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo.

In addition, Sullivan acknowledged that bolstering income and realistic financial planning must remain a high priority if the diocese is to weather its next hundred years.

Founded in 1899, only 10 days after statehood, the diocese originally covered the entire state, and Jamestown, N.D., was chosen as its original See City. However, in 1909, it was divided and the See City was moved to Fargo.

The diocese serves about 100,000 parishioners through 160 parishes and missions, 16 schools and 12 hospitals. It begins its 100th year on Nov. 12.

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