O.C. Catholic diocese to buy bankrupt Crystal Cathedral (it's official!)

LA Times ^ | November 18, 2011 | Nicole Santa Cruz

[NYer]

An Orange County bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday that the Crystal Cathedral, a monument to modernism in faith and architecture, will be sold for $57.5 million to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, which plans to consecrate it as a Catholic cathedral.

The ruling was a blow to Chapman University, which had fought bitterly down to the final moments of the bankruptcy case for the right to buy the property as a satellite campus.

It also marked the end of a remarkable chapter in the history of American Christianity, one that was written in glass and steel by the Crystal Cathedral's founder and guiding light, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller.

In a day filled with drama and deep emotion, Chapman had pressed its case with a newly escalated bid of $59 million, only to complain that it had been blindsided by the Crystal Cathedral board, which came down firmly on the side of the Catholic Church.

In the end, Schuller himself gave his blessing to what once would have seemed unthinkable: the conversion of his sleekly modern masterpiece in Garden Grove, a place where fresh breezes blow through open walls and church services feature talk-show-style interviews, into a Catholic cathedral redolent of incense and ancient ritual.

In a letter to the court, the 85-year-old minister said he could not abide the thought that Chapman might someday use the cathedral for nonreligious purposes. Catholic leaders assured him, he said, that they would "take on your calling of proclaiming Christ's message to humanity" and "care for this campus like the treasure it is."

[NYer]

[NYer]

"I only have one word to say and that's 'devastated,' " said the Rev. James Richards, who has volunteered at the Crystal Cathedral for 10 years. He said congregants want to continue to worship in their church.

They are more than welcome to stay!

[Fiji Hill]

So the so-called “Crystal Cathedral” is about to become a real cathedral.

[TSgt]

I’m surprised they had the money to buy it with all the sex abuse settlements the church has been paying out lately...

For example, a $100 million judgment was just issued last week.

Fla. jury awards $100M against Roman Catholic priest in sex abuse case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/fla-jury-awards-100m-against-roman-catholic-priest-in-sex-abuse-case/2011/11/10/gIQA64YW9M_story.html

[iowamark]

In a letter to the court, the 85-year-old minister [Schuller] said he could not abide the thought that Chapman might someday use the cathedral for nonreligious purposes. Catholic leaders assured him, he said, that they would "take on your calling of proclaiming Christ's message to humanity" and "care for this campus like the treasure it is."

Interesting that the Calvinist Rev. Schuller would side with the Catholic diocese over the Protestant school.

[oh8eleven]

will be sold for $57.5 million to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
I have six ancestors who were buried in an unmarked grave over 125 years ago in Calvary Cemetery (NYC).
When I asked the church (St Patrick's) how to go about putting up a headstone, I was told I first had to pay over $1200 in past due maintenance fees.
You don't want to know what I told them to do with their fees.

[SoCal Pubbie]

They don’t. They are borrowing the money, at least some of it.

[iowamark]

Can Crystal Cathedral survive without its church?
When Catholics talk of "the church," they don't mean a building. But for many congregants at the Crystal Cathedral, the church building designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson and made up of 10,000 panes of glass has become intertwined with the church's identity...

"The Crystal Cathedral is the face of the ministry to the world," said Michael Nason, a church member for 39 years and past producer of the "Hour of Power." "If you take it somewhere else, down to St. Callistus, it doesn't have the same experience."

[marshmallow]

Can we rent it out to the Church of Scientology or someone?

[paladinan]

In the end, Schuller himself gave his blessing to what once would have seemed unthinkable: the conversion of his sleekly modern masterpiece in Garden Grove, a place where fresh breezes blow through open walls and church services feature talk-show-style interviews, into a Catholic cathedral redolent of incense and ancient ritual.

(*wry look*) Apparently, the author isn't very familiar with the Catholic dioceses in California; "redolent of incense and ancient ritual" isn't exactly the phrase that comes to mind. Giant puppet "Masses", heretic guest speakers, and other heterodox eye-candy are all closer to the mark. No faithful and well-informed Catholic would want to do anything to the "crystal cathedral" but demolish and bull-doze it (and perhaps salt the ground, afterward).

[tioga]

How cool.

[NYer]

I have six ancestors who were buried in an unmarked grave over 125 years ago in Calvary Cemetery (NYC). When I asked the church (St Patrick's) how to go about putting up a headstone, I was told I first had to pay over $1200 in past due maintenance fees.

It is already remarkable that your relatives have been left undisturbed for so long without a marker. The fee quoted is about $10/annum; that works out to be $1.66 per family member, annually. What a bargain!

How do you suppose the cemetery covers the costs of grounds maintenance?

[Biggirl]

At least the RC Church will save this as a Cathedral.

[Alex Murphy]

In a letter to the court, the 85-year-old minister [Schuller] said he could not abide the thought that Chapman might someday use the cathedral for nonreligious purposes. Catholic leaders assured him, he said, that they would "take on your calling of proclaiming Christ's message to humanity" and "care for this campus like the treasure it is."

Interesting that the Calvinist Rev. Schuller would side with the Catholic diocese over the Protestant school.

If you think Schuller is Calvinist, we've got some more properties to sell you.

[Biggirl]

“In the end, Schuller himself gave his blessing to what once would have seemed unthinkable: the conversion of his sleekly modern masterpiece in Garden Grove, a place where fresh breezes blow through open walls and church services feature talk-show-style interviews, into a Catholic cathedral redolent of incense and ancient ritual.

(*wry look*) Apparently, the author isn’t very familiar with the Catholic dioceses in California; “redolent of incense and ancient ritual” isn’t exactly the phrase that comes to mind. Giant puppet “Masses”, heretic guest speakers, and other heterodox eye-candy are all closer to the mark. No faithful and well-informed Catholic would want to do anything to the “crystal cathedral” but demolish and bull-doze it (and perhaps salt the ground, afterward).”

Take confort, when this coming Advent starts, and with the new English Roman Missal going to effect, look for spiritual change for the better.

[TSgt]

If you think Schuller is Calvinist, we've got some more properties to sell you.

LOL! I was thinking the same thing!

Schuller preached the unbiblical prosperity gospel.

[RBIEL2]

It didn't help that the Schullers appeared tone deaf at times to their own lives of apparent privilege, as when the church recently asked for food donations for Schuller's ailing wife — and said the items would be delivered to her in a limousine.

"I mean, how out of touch can you possibly be?" asked Richard Flory, director of research in the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. "If you're part of that congregation, at what point does this person or family start bringing more problems to us as a congregation than benefit?"

[SumProVita]

“They are more than welcome to stay!”

Amen! ;-)

[SumProVita]

Spiritually rich....you are so correct! ;-)))