Our Sunday Visitor founder Bishop John F. Noll used the pages of the newspaper to advocate for many an important Catholic cause in the United States. One such cause was a campaign for the creation of a statue of Jesus Christ to be erected in Washington, D.C. That statue, titled "Christ, the Light of the World," now stands in front of the headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and it was funded by OSV readers. |
| Bishop Noll speaking at the dedication ceremony for the statue in April 1949. |
The campaign began in 1936, when a reader, Marjorie Russell
of Topeka, Kan., sent Bishop Noll a
note suggesting that OSV
begin a drive to erect a statue of Christ in Washington. She included a dollar bill, which was to count as the first donation. Russell pointed out that since Washington had
statues of many famous people, one should be there to represent the greatest
person who had ever walked the planet.
The idea appealed to Bishop Noll, who published the
letter in the newspaper. The idea clearly caught on with OSV readers. Soon, donations
for the project totaled more than $150,000.
Bishop Noll later arranged for the 17-foot
bronze statue, created by University of Notre Dame art professor Eugene Kormendi, to be placed
outside the National Catholic Welfare Conference headquarters. Bishop Noll
presented the statue to the conference, and was present at its 1949 dedication. It was later moved to its current home in front of the USCCB offices.
Click here to see more recent images of it.
