Dear Teofilo,
Do you live near Washington?
I went to CUA undergrad, and briefly for grad school. I visited the Shrine quite often. Even up until the last few years, we regularly went to the Shrine for Mass. Not so much the last couple of years.
When I was at CUA, some of our professors used to mock the architecturally... "eclectic" style. I had one professor of theology who said its architectural monstrosity was rivaled by its ecclesiastical monstrosity (apparently, at least back then, it was neither fish nor fowl, not a parish, but not under the direct control of the Archbishop of Washington). I always kinda liked it, and now, like it even more.
sitetest
Relatively speaking...four hours away in PA.
-Theo