[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.

[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.

[Biggirl]

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

[NeoCaveman]

An Orange County bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday that the Crystal Cathedral, a monument to modernism in faith and architecture,

Accidental truth in journalism.

[Pan_Yan]

Ping. I don’t have a cohesive opinion on this one.

[DManA]

written in glass and steel by the Crystal Cathedral's founder and guiding light, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller.

Actually it was written in glass and steel by a lot of little old ladies with check books (like my mom).

[DManA]

Where are the “ugly church architecture” crew?

[Campion]

Didn’t the bishop of Orange, Tod Brown, just turn 75 a couple of days ago? Shouldn’t his successor get to decide if the diocese should go deeply into debt to buy this glass-encased tribute to ugliness?

[cloudmountain]

They are beautiful buildings, modern-style.

They are sure nicer than the modern Catholic Churches, as I was used to all Catholic Churches looking like an Italian Catholic Church.
The modern/newer Catholic Churches are so modern you can't tell who Jesus is, who Mary might be and what all the artistic squiggles, slashes and dashes might be. As for a crucifix, not a chance. Tabernacle, maybe, stuck over to the traditional Mary-side of the altar.

These magnificent buildings WILL improve once they have a Cross on/in/around them.

Besides, the irony of it all is amusing.

[Not gonna take it anymore]

Quiz: He was a strong influence on the Crystal Cathedral and its founder, and they erected a statue there in his honor. Who was he? Click here for the surprising answer...

http://archbishopfultonsheencentre.com/Statue%20at%20Crystal%20Cathedral.jpg

http://www.sfdsnyc.org/?p=2839

Sheen I: An anecdote about Robert Schuller and Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen...

[johngrace]

He should of gave the church to his son. He is more conservative. His son quoted the bible too much. Senior thought people should not have too much verses in a service. So now the Catholic bible reading everyday.

Protestant do not have same amount of services like Catholic. We have Mass everyday. Senior knows how dedicated Catholics are for everyday service.

[the invisib1e hand]

oy. the born agains are 5 years behind the world. apparently Catholics are 5 years behind the born agains.