It is now necessary to provide sleeping quarters for retreatants wishing to spend a few days. St. Joseph's Dormitory with sixteen bedrooms, four people to a room was constructed.

A second visit to the States to sell woodcarvings was made by Father Julien and Teodoro Samilin, an employee. The trip earned enough to enable to add a second storey to the multipurpose building. The expanded building now contained conference room, four bedrooms , a dining room and kitchen. With these facilities many more retreatants came. For a time, Father Loinel Lacasse and then Father Alphonse Larochelle preached the retreats.

The number of retreatants and tourist increased weekly. It was time to build a church and turn old chapel into a larger gift shop. The combined income from retreats, nursery, flowers and appeal letters sent to local and foreign benefactors made it possible to start the project.

Deeply interested in the shrine project from the beginning, Brother Armand Fredette was appointed treasurer of the shrine in 1979. Through his tireless efforts, he obtained farnitures and other materials from U.S. AID. Meantime, the Fredette family in the States raised thousands of dollars for the shrine.

Anton Kho, owner of ACF Construction Company and close friend of La Salettes, slightly modified the plan and assigned foreman to supervise the construction. All the labor was done by regular employees of La Salette. Even the Scholastic Brothers in those years contributed to digging the foundation.

The adobe ground took time, patience, and plenty of determination to carry on the work. The Church was finally blessed on September 19, 1977.

Today the facsimile is surrounded by beautiful gardens and a well-landscaped property which draws many people. Many also were the school groups, parish organizations, who, while on an excursion, would stop by to visit the Shrine and hear once more the message of Our Lady of La Salette.

Upon reaching the age of 70, Father Fred Julien returned to the United States on July 31, 1979 - seventeen years from the day he promised to build a Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette.

(After his Texan parochial ministry, Fr. Julien came back to stay till his twilight years. He is now resting in peace in the burial grounds of the La Salette Missionaries at the Shrine).