Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-11
NATIONAL SHRINE
|. DEBT PAID UP BY
u. S. HIERARCHY
Chapel of LourdeS and
Southern Foundations to !
Be Erected Next.
35, 0O0- PIECE MOSAIC
WILL BE DEDICATED
Catholic Administrative Council
Takes Up Question of Aid for
Unemployment Conditions.

The check paying off the last cent
of Indebtedness on the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception, repre-
senting an expenditure of 81 500, 600,
was signed today by Mgr. Bernard A.
McKenna, special representative of the
hierarchy of the United States in the
erection of the great basilica, accord
ing to an announcement at a meeting
Of the trustees of the Catholic Univer-
sity today, with Cardinal O'Connen Of
Boston presiding.
Chapel Of LOurdes Next Work.
Work on the structure will continue
with erection and establishment of the
Chapel of Lourdes, the gift of George
Logan Duval of New York, q laetare
medalist, who founded the chair of
Mariology at the university. The south
ern foundation will be next laid, ac-
cording to decision reached at a meet
ing of the Shrine Building Committee
today, presided over by Cardinal Denis
j. Dougherty of Philadelphia. The
new foundations will more than double
the size of the present structure and
indicate where the main entrance of the
cathedral will be. The foundations
will cost $250,000.
Three American cardinals, O'Connell
of Boston, Dougherty of Philadelphia
and Hayes of New York, with the papal
delegate, Archbishop Fumasoni- Biondi,
who Is soon to be created a cardinal,
and all archbishops and bishops COM
prising the American hierarchy will as
sist tomorrow night, following the semi
annual meeting of the hierarchy, in the
formal ceremony of dedicating the
ception," which is the gift of Pope
Plus XII to the National Shrine.
Mosaic Contains $4,000 Pieces.
This mosaic is said to be the most
beautiful art work of its kind in the
Western Hemisphere. 1t is by IL feet
and contains IS 900 bits of enamel,
which it took five years to assemble by
artists in the Vatican mosaic works. 1t
is to occupy the place of distinction in
the main apse of the completed basilica.
At the dedication ceremony Cardinal
Dougherty will officiate and express the
gratitude of American Catholics to the
Pope for this gift. Mgr. McKenna will
be master of ceremonies, and the choir
from the Dominican House OF Studies
will sing.
Cardinal O'Connell spent more than
an hour in the crypt this morning and
expressed delight at the mosaic and
progress of the decorative work on the
The administrative council Of the
National Catholic Welfare Conference
met yesterday.
Unemployment Is Considered.
Rev. John j. Burke, general secre-
tary of the National Catholic Welfare
Conference, stated that one of the
first matters to which the committee
had given its attention was the far
reaching unemployment throughout the
country. The committee, Father Burke
said, passed a resolution asking all de-
partments of the National Catholic Wei
fare Conference, including thousands OF
affiliated lay organizations OF men and
women, to take an active and immediate
interest in seeking to relieve and i'm
prove unemployment conditions, to CO.
operate with President Hoover's Ma
tional Committee on Unemployment and
with local official bodies working for
betterment of this situation, more
lamentsble as Winter. approaches.
The Administrative Committee further
called attention to and urged appllca-
tiop in every field Of business and civic
life of Christian principles of justice
and charity, particularly as set forth
in the rerum novarun of Leo XIII,
the bishops reconstruc ton program and
the Joint pastoral letter of the bishops
of the United States Of 1919.
Hoover Is COmpIimented.
The Administrative Committee stated
that every bishop in the United States,
through the agencies at his command,
particularly charity and aid organiza-
tons, was doing his utmost to relieve
the condition of the unemployed.
Cardinal O'Connell, the dean of the
hierarchy, called at the White House
yesterday and formally accepted place
on President Hoover's Commission oh
Child Welfare. The prelate said after
talking with Mr. Hoover that he was
impressed with the Presidents intimate
knowledge of conditions generally.