Looks like the shark from Jaws getting ready to devour the faithful.
Posted on 05/08/2004 11:44:19 AM PDT by MegaSilver
BISHOP ALLEN VIGNERON, shepherd of the Roman Catholic Diocese, heard something he didn't like from his flock about Diocesan plans for the 17-story Christ the Light Cathedral last week at a community meeting.
These were not sheep-like Catholics, and they knew the scriptures.
What the bishop heard was a respectful bleating. "Baaaaa ..."
Several who spoke said the $131 million price tag for building the cathedral complex should instead be spent on the poor and homeless as taught by Jesus Christ and the Bible.
The proposed soaring edifice would be a "symbol of wealth and the pride of man," said one critic, asserting he knew of no one who had been asked for an opinion about the building.
Another speaker said, "I will be ashamed to enter the Cathedral if $131 million is spent to build it. That's money that should help the poor and
homeless. Our priorities are wrong."
Vigneron seemed dismayed but not discouraged, and launched a defense that there's a need for a stronger Catholic presence in downtown Oakland to "sanctify, educate and serve."
Cost of the 110,000-square-foot site, previously approved by the city for an office building, was $30 million. The cathedral design calls for a glass veil to reflect sunlight and glow in the dark. Thirty-three existing trees on the vacant site will be removed and replaced with new ones.
An unusual use of the ground under the cathedral will be a mausoleum where deceased Catholics could be interred for $1,600. For those who prefer cremation -- permissible under new rules of the Vatican -- there will be 6,000 spaces for urns of ashes. The money will be used to offset cathedral expenses,
Underground mausoleums are common in Europe and in some older U.S. churches such as the California missions. But none has such large spaces reserved for the dead as this sizable underground cemetery.
The bishop said there is a need to establish a "strong identity and sense of unity" in the Diocese, which covers Alameda and Contra Costa counties with extremely diverse populations.
He maintained the cathedral will be a parish, as well as a gathering place for the 500,000 Catholics in the diocese. Vigneron said the cathedral will be completed in 2006, and the entire complex of buildings could be completed by 2007. Of the $131 million, $80 million is for the sanctuary building.
The complex will include a new rectory, chancery offices, a conference center, a 200-seat chapel, cafe and bookstore and a 200-car parking garage expected to create revenue of $300,000 a year. The present chancery office on Lakeshore Drive and the rectory on 21st Street will be sold.
After Vigneron left the session midway to prepare for a trip to Rome, John McDonnell, Oakland attorney and choir director of the celebrated St. Francis de Sales choir, answered questions. He was assisted by Lee Nordlund, both volunteers with the project. The two men are leaders of 150 select Catholics who have participated in the Holy Names committee, previously known under former Bishop John Cummins as the Cathedral Project.
As for the anticipated core congregation, Vigneron said members of St. Mary's/St. Francis Church on Jefferson Street will move to the cathedral and become the new parish. With such a spectacular building, many Catholic and non-Catholic visitors are also expected.
But an active parishioner of St. Mary's said most people who attend are poor Vietnamese who say they would feel uncomfortable worshipping in a grand building like Christ the Light. They prefer the old St. Mary's.
A woman who lives three blocks from Grand Avenue and Harrison Street declared she would never become a member of the parish, preferring to remain in her present parish, Our Lady of Lourdes on Lakeshore Drive, where the meeting was held. About 60 people attended.
Vigneron spoke of the Forest City uptown development of 1,000 residences yet to be started that will generate new members for the cathedral parish.
Anticipating questions about his decision to close three Catholic schools, Vigneron said the Christ the Light Cathedral is not being built at the expense of the schools. They are being closed because of the quality of education, changes in the community, low enrollment and financial instability, said the bishop. The two issues are completely separate financially, he said.
The project is on its way with $65 million already pledged by a foundation whose name the bishop said would not be made public until a future date.
On May 23 at 3 p.m., Bishop Vigneron will bless the ground at the Grand and Harrison site. Everyone is invited to attend.
E-mail Peggy Stinnett at pstinnett@angnewspapers.com.
Looks like the shark from Jaws getting ready to devour the faithful.
I thought Vigneron was a conservative. You mean there's trouble in paradise?
This thing will cost more than the Taj Mahoney before it's finished, you watch. And it looks just as hideous.
Catholics are tired of this extravagance in church buildings. It sounds as if he won't have much of a parish for this Cathedral, as it will be a kluge pulled together of Vietnamese and poor congregations.
Extravagance is fine, as long as it's Hagia Sophia- or Notre Dame- style extravagance.
These space-age buildings are just ghastly to look at.
It's not. But, it appears that he inherited this project, and that planning was well down the road.
OTOH, he appears to back it, fully.
But architecture goes through phases. I remember a WSJ article on the then new AT&T building. It was supposed to
remind people of a chair. I guess the furniture motif was the big thing ~25 years ago.
Maybe they want to remind us that we're all Jonahs now? Or whathisname, Quint?
Maybe it the whale which swallowed prophet Jonas? :)
As it is said in the Gospel:
"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." (Saint John, 12:3-6)
Still, I can't understand why ANY man would want to look at that horrible building.
None of this bothered Rembert the Poofterwonk when he spent $60mill simply wrecking the interior of the existing building and adding 'garden spaces.'
And I don't recall you objecting to Rembert's expenditure--not that it matters.
You don't think this is destined to be Taj Mahoney II?
It certainly mimics the LA Cathedral, complete with columbarium and bookstore.
Too bad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.