Evening star., 1952-09-26
By Richard Rodgers

BY Richard Rodgers
High on a hill next to Western
High School the House of the
Good Shepherd looks over the ad-
joining Burleith section. The
home is cooled by breezes sweep
ing Of the lower. surrounding
ground, and Is stirred by Burleith's
opposition to its building program
For 81 years the institution has
been there: more than twice as
long as Burleith's homes.
Now the homes nuns want to
make their place a modern one,
and Burleith'S Citizens Associa-
ton is fighting them.
We're sure it's a miSunder-
standing" said Mother Superior
Mary Veronica, head of the Good
Shepherd home.
Her domain occupies a city
block. It stretches along Reser-
voir road from Thirty-sixth to
Thirty-seventh street NV, and
on those last two streets from
Reservoir road to r street.
Saving for 80 Years.
The nuns have been saving fol
about 80 years for a better home
They're ready to begin. Their
architect has drawn up a plan fol
a. four-story structure which will
give the sisters and their wards 9
better place in every way.
People planning to build must
have their projects approved BY
zoning commissions. The Catho-
lie sisters of the Good Shepherd
have submitted their drafts to the
Districts Zoning Readjustment
Board and that's where the issue
rests now.
The Burleith neighbors object
ed. at length and with vigor.
Burleith is q good" section oi
Washington.
Its residents who banded against
the home said they feared their
property would be hurt If the home
got permission to build. They
cited the homes laundry. It's q
nuisance, they said. They pointed
out that it does outside work as
well as its own laundry. They un-
Iderstood that the Good Shepherd
also operates a bakery, and they
wanted to know how much out
side work the bakery does.
Called ''Thorn in Flesh"
The House of the Good Shep-
herd. the Burlsith lawyer declared,
"has been q thorn in the flesh of
the neighborhood for many years. "
II the home gets approval TO build,
The went on, Burleith will be hurt.
The nuns are already hurt.
They're also puzzled. And they're
convinced Burleith has q wrong
idea about what the home does.
The home now cares for IS girls
and adult women. 1t isn't a prison
its q home. About half of the
wards are between 40 and rs years
old: grown women who, for one
reason or another, can't adjust
their lives to the outside world.
The other half Of the homes
population ranges from IL to Il
years. Some Of them were sent
to the home by their parents. some
lby guardians, some by the Dis
ltrict's Board Of Public Welfare anC
some came in by their own request
Not all Of these youngsters are
IdelinQuents. Some are victims oi
broken homes and others are waits
Whose impoverished parents can
mot care for them. Nor are all
lot them Catholics. A third OF
them belong to other faiths.
The kids 60 to school much like
more fortunate children. The
home operates sixth, seventh and
eighth grades and there are extras
during and after that.
Some Are Delinquent.
Some Of the girls are delinquent
and some Of the older wards are
former delinquents. But they're
mot girls wto've been put away at
the Good Shepherd to be clubbed
into the path Of Righteousness.
They are people who have had
tough luck.
The place is largely a charitable
institution. but it's supported by
|dOnations, legacies and gifts from
Its own friends, rather than
through the agencies Of the Com
|munity Chest.
II also helps pay its own way.
It's laundry. the mother superior
says, has as non-home customers
some rs Georgetown University
faculty members and about 200
Georgetown undergraduates.
As for the bakery
It's q cubbyhole devoted entirely
to producing altar bread sheets
of waters that 60 through a
punchpress which smacks out thin
discs for Holy Communion. The
dough Is no more than watered
-four and Is cooked on tiny grid
dies. Ike those In hort-order
restaurants. Dough becomes q
baked sheet in about . minute.