Dowd Chapel/Flanagan Shrine

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Dowd Memorial Chapel of the Immaculate Conception was completed in 1941 and sits atop one of the highest points in the Village of Boys Town, Nebraska. The chapel’s English Gothic architecture is rich and traditional, featuring beautiful dark woods in sharp contrast to the Indiana Bedford limestone walls. The chapel has added beauty in its unique depiction of children. Many of the stained-glass windows highlight children’s Biblical themes. A side altar also sculpturally illustrates the Biblical story of finding the boy Jesus teaching in the temple. The figures are carved from linden wood. The main chapel seats 700 worshippers. Adjacent to the nave, through a wrought iron gate inscribed in Latin with “All for the Honor and Glory of God,” is the Father Flanagan Shrine, where the Girls and Boys Town founder is entombed in a bronze casket. The casket cover has words and pictures describing Father Flanagan’s life.