Cardinal honors 100,000th visitor to renovated Baltimore basilica

Published: 2007-08-06

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- As Rosalie Dohm of Woodbridge, Va., climbed the stairs to the nation's first Catholic cathedral Aug. 2, she thought it was unusual that Cardinal William H. Keeler was personally greeting each of the visitors from her parish tour group. The 66-year-old parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Lake Ridge, Va., then found herself in the spotlight when Cardinal Keeler handed her a package and balloons and congratulated her for being the 100,000th visitor to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary since it reopened last November. "I'm dumbfounded," said Dohm, who came on the tour with her parish's Silver Foxes senior citizen group. "I was excited about seeing this place, but wow. What a shock to be told you are the 100,000th visitor since it opened back up to the public." Cardinal Keeler said he was overwhelmed by the number of people who have flocked to the cathedral since it was restored to the vision of its architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the father of American architecture who also designed the U.S. Capitol.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .