Joel Pidel is a native of Augusta, Georgia, and practices traditional architecture in New Canaan, Connecticut, residing nearby with his wife and children. He attended the University of Notre Dame where he studied architecture and philosophy, graduating in 2005, and practicing architecture in New York City for the next 11 years. His architectural and illustrative work has been published in books and magazines.
The story of Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in Lackawanna, New York, is one that, like most historic Catholic churches, is intertwined as much with the legacy of a person as with an event that reverberates throughout Church history.
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? While the historical and spiritual answer to this question is so well known as to make the asking tongue-in-cheek, the question has remained one of continual renewal and response for a certain property on the outskirts of the city of Raleigh, North Carolina.