Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
We've got loads more to say about St. Jude over in the "Setting" section, so be sure to check it out, but this place also works a bit on a symbolic level, so we're giving it a shout-out here, too. St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, you see. By naming the location of Lambert HQ after him, then, Franzen is subtly clueing us in to the fruitlessness facing both the family as a unit and its individual members. Try though they might, they are at the mercy of corrections, after all. And for more on that, hop on over to the "What's Up With the Title?" section.