| Christ Cathedral | |
|---|---|
 Christ Cathedral in 2018 | |
 Christ Cathedral | |
| 33°47′15″N117°53′56″W / 33.787396°N 117.898933°W /33.787396; -117.898933 | |
| Location | Garden Grove, California |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Previous denomination | Reformed Church in America (1980–2013) |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Website | christcathedralcalifornia |
| History | |
| Former name | Crystal Cathedral |
| Founded | 1955 |
| Founder(s) | Robert H. Schuller (as Crystal Cathedral) |
| Dedicated | 1980 (as Crystal Cathedral) 2019 (as Christ Cathedral) |
| Consecrated | 1980 (as Reformed Church in America) 2019 (as Catholic Church) |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Philip Johnson John Burgee |
| Style | Modern architecture |
| Groundbreaking | 1977 |
| Completed | 1980 |
| Construction cost | $18 million |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Orange |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop | Kevin Vann |
| Rector | Bảo Quốc Thái |
Christ Cathedral (Latin:Cathedralis Christi;Spanish:Catedral de Cristo;Vietnamese:Nhà Thờ Chính Tòa Chúa Kitô), formerly theCrystal Cathedral, is a Catholic church building inGarden Grove, California, United States. Since 2019, it has served as thecathedral of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
The Modern-style reflective glass building, originally designed byPhilip Johnson/John Burgee Architects, seats 2,248 people.[1][2] After its completion in 1981, it was described as "the largest glass building in the world".[3] The building has one of the largest musical instruments in the world, theHazel Wright Organ.[4][5]
From its opening in 1981 until 2013, the building was home ofCrystal Cathedral Ministries, a congregation of theReformed Church in America that was founded in 1955 byRobert H. Schuller. The ministry's weekly television program,Hour of Power, was broadcast from the church. After filing forbankruptcy protection, Crystal Cathedral Ministries sold the building and its adjacent campus to the Diocese of Orange in February 2012 for $57.5 million.
After a two-year renovation of the cathedral to convert it for theCatholicliturgy, the building was consecrated as Christ Cathedral—the seat of the Diocese of Orange—on July 17, 2019.
Robert H. Schuller and his wife Arvella Schuller founded the Garden Grove Community Church in 1955.[6] A member of the ProtestantReformed Church in America, the congregation first held services at the Orange Drive-In Theatre inOrange, California. The congregants would sit in their cars while Robert Schuller delivered hissermon from the top of the concession stand. He also rented a 300-seat former Baptist church in a different location for those who wanted inside seating.[7]
To accommodate the growth of their congregation, in 1958 the Schullers bought 10 acres in Garden Grove for a larger combination drive-in/sit-in church. Designed by architectRichard Neutra, the new church opened in 1961.[8] In 1968, the Schullers opened the 13-story Tower of Hope building on the campus for classrooms and office space. It was topped with a large illuminated cross.
The rapid growth of the congregation soon outstripped the capacity of their current church. Schuller then commissionedPhilip Johnson andJohn Burgee to design a church with a seating capacity of 2,248 worshipers on the Garden Grove campus.
The congregation began construction of the Crystal Cathedral in 1977; it was completed in 1980 at a cost of $18 million (equivalent to $69 million in 2024). It was 415 feet long by 215 feet wide, with a height of 128 feet. It was topped by a beacon for aircraft.[9] The architects designed the church to withstand a magnitude 8.0earthquake. The 10,000 rectangular panes of glass on the building were reflective on the outside and transparent on the inside. They were attached to the framework with asilicone-based glue to mitigate earthquake damage. No crystal glass was used in its construction. The building featured a 52-bellcarillon. It also had an underground chapel with a revolving crystal cross.[9][10]
The opening gala for the Crystal Cathedral was held on May 14, 1980, with 3,000 guests paying $1,500 each. The gala included a recital of music byVivaldi, Schubert, andRossini, with the operatic singerBeverly Sills performing solos.[11]
After moving into the new sanctuary in 1981, the congregation changed its name to Crystal Ministries.[10] The $5.5 million stainless steel prayer spire was constructed in 1991. The Crystal Cathedral became the new venue for Robert Schuller'sHour of Power television broadcasts on Sunday mornings. These broadcasts regularly reached a worldwide audience of 20 million viewers.[12] In a 2011Los Angeles Times article, BishopTod Brown mentioned that, over the years, foreign priests visiting the Diocese of Orange invariably asked to visit the Crystal Cathedral.[13]
By early 2010, Crystal Cathedral Ministries was in deep financial trouble due to high costs and reduced contributions resulting from theGreat Recession of 2007 to 2009. It was facing multiple lawsuits from unpaid creditors, with one board member estimating that they were $55 million in debt. It was also facing a contentious transition from the leadership of Robert and Avella Schueller.[14][15]
The ministries' board filed for bankruptcy protection on October 18, 2010, citing $43 million in debt, including a $36 million mortgage. Ministries officials tried to negotiate a payment plan with their creditors. However, after receiving several lawsuits andwrits of attachment, the Crystal Cathedral Ministries was forced to file for bankruptcy.[16] After the filing, the ministries received offers for the Crystal Cathedral campus from a real estate investment group andChapman University in Orange. Chapman offered $59 million for the campus, planning to use it for health sciences studies and possibly a medical school.[17]
On July 7, 2011, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Orange announced that it was "potentially interested" in purchasing the Crystal Cathedral campus.[18] The diocese had purchased land inSanta Ana to build a new cathedral (having outgrown theHoly Family Cathedral in Orange), but found that it would be more cost-effective to renovate and repurpose the Crystal Cathedral campus and its buildings instead, and that Garden Grove was a more accessible location within the diocese than Santa Ana.[18] The diocese made an initial offer of $50 million for the property, then increased it to $53.6 million.[18] The diocese also offered to let Crystal Cathedral Ministries lease an "alternative worship space of at least 50,000 square feet" on the campus for up to 15 years.[19]
Sheila Colman, the new director of the ministries, accepted this offer. The ministries' board originally planned to accept the higher offer from Chapman, but expressed a desire for the property to remain a religious institution.[20] On November 17, 2011, Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert N. Kwan approved the sale of the Crystal Cathedral to the Diocese of Orange for $57.5 million (equivalent to $80 million in 2024).[20][21]
Days after the sale was approved, the Italian newspaperLa Stampa published a report thatPope Benedict XVI was forming a newVatican commission to investigate irregularly designed churches and cathedrals that "remind people of anything but the mystery and sacredness of a church", such as designs with "glass boxes" and "crazy shapes"; the article was illustrated with a photograph of the Crystal Cathedral.[22][23] Ultimately, this did not prove to be an issue; two weeks after the sale was approved, Bishop Brown secured approval from the Vatican to transfer the diocese to the campus.[24]
The Crystal Cathedral sale was finalized on February 3, 2012. The diocese then transferred the St. Callistus parish to the old Garden Grove church on the Cathedral campus, renaming it Christ Cathedral Parish.[25][26] The campuscemetery was immediately transferred to the diocese, which quickly moved its offices into the other campus buildings.[26] Bishop Brown stated the diocese planned to renovate the cathedral's interior after Crystal Cathedral Ministries moved out, while maintaining the "iconic personality" of its architecture.[27]
On June 9, 2012, the diocese announced that the building would be renamed "Christ Cathedral",[28] with the Reverend Christopher Smith serving as its first rector and episcopal vicar.[29] The name was chosen with input from the diocese and its members, and approved by the Vatican.[30] In October 2012, before the property transfer, the diocese held its first event at the cathedral, the 7th Orange County Catholic Prayer Breakfast[31] The Christ Cathedral Parish would continue until June 2013 to celebrate Masses and other liturgies at the old Garden Grove church, now known as the Arboretum.
Crystal Cathedral Ministries held its final worship service at the Crystal Cathedral on June 30, 2013.[32] They held their next service at the former St. Callistus Church on July 7, 2013.[33] The congregation, now much reduced, moved in 2018 to another facility, which it namedShepherd's Grove, inIrvine, California.[34] The St. Callistus Catholic School moved into the former Crystal Cathedral Academy facility, changing its name to Christ Cathedral Academy, in September 2013.[35] Robert Schuller died in 2015; his funeral service was conducted outside the cathedral.[12]
In November 2013, the Crystal Cathedral was closed to the public in preparation for a multi-year renovation of the building.[36][1]William J Woeger of theDe La Salle Brothers was appointed as the principal liturgical consultant,[37] Los Angeles-based design firm Johnson Fain was hired as architect, and the Irvine-based Snyder Langston served asgeneral contractor.[38][39] The diocese unveiled renderings of Christ Cathedral in September 2014; the renovations aimed to make it suitable for the Catholicliturgy (including the construction of a sanctuary,ciborium, andaltar) while preserving the structure's architectural qualities.[36]
The cathedral's glass walls had created long-standing issues with heat, glare, andacoustics;[40] the Diocese of Orange's vice president of philanthropy Tony Jennison noted that "you could see people fanning themselves and even wearing sunglasses onHour of Power". To alleviate these issues, the glass walls were lined with angledquatrefoils—referred to as "petals"—to deflect heat and create shade. Lights would also be installed on the petals to illuminate the building and its exterior at night, creating an effect described as a "box of stars" that can be seen from afar.[41] Along with the change in liturgy, the cathedral underwentseismic retrofitting, its 20 foot (6.1 m) glass doors were replaced with bronze doors, andair conditioning was installed in the Arboretum.[42][41] The Hazel Wright Organ was disassembled and shipped back to Italy for an extensive, $2 million restoration.[43][36][44]
On the campus,crape myrtle trees were planted along the path from the parking lot to the cathedral plazas; they were described as symbolizing the "beginning" of holiness as parishioners walk towards the altar, and by principal architect Frank Clementi as being akin to a "sacredheat map".[40][44] To honor Schuller's legacy, the biblical sculptures he had commissioned for the property were retained, and plans were announced for a legacy garden that would display some of the sculptures, and include a wall inscribed with the names of Crystal Cathedral donors who were originally inscribed on stones along its "Walk of Faith" (which were removed as part of landscaping work).[45] Catholic broadcasterEWTN leased a floor of the campus's Tower of Hope to construct a west coast studio.[46][47]
Construction began in June 2017, with the diocese expecting the renovations to be completed by late-2018.[48][49] To fund the renovations, the diocese first allocated $59 million in proceeds from its 2011 "For Christ Forever" fundraising campaign. In 2014, an anonymous benefactor contributed $20 million in additional funding.[48] It was later determined that the diocese reached its cost estimates for the project without "serious study or professional recommendations"; in 2016, the diocese revised the estimated cost of the project to $108 million. To achieve cost savings, the diocese opted to use a locally sourced marble veneer instead of solid marble from Italy, and worked to keep more of the building's "bones" intact. This lowered the project's overall cost to $72 million.[50]
On June 29, 2018, Bishop of OrangeKevin Vann proclaimed a "holy year of preparation" ahead of the solemn dedication of the cathedral.[51] On October 13, 2018, the quatrefoils were blessed and officially illuminated for the first time.[41] The altar was installed in December 2018; thefirst-class relics placed in itsreliquary are meant to reflect the ethnic diversity of Orange County's Catholic community, including relics connected to Vietnamese saint and martyrAndrew Dũng-Lạc, the eightCanadian Martyrs, the Spanish missionaryJunípero Serra, Korean saintAndrew Kim Taegon, and Mexican bishopRafael Guízar y Valencia.[42][52]
A formal celebration event and concert by thePacific Symphony was held at the cathedral on July 13, 2019.[53] On July 17, 2019, the diocese held a Mass to formally rededicate the building as Christ Cathedral.[54][55] The diocese opened the shrine ofOur Lady of La Vang on the cathedral campus in 2021. The shrine includes a 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) statue of theVirgin Mary capped by a spiraling canopy.[56] The St. Callistus Chapel and Crypts—situated in the building's basement—was completed in October 2024 and dedicated by Bishop Vann on October 14, 2024; this event marked the formal completion of the Christ Cathedral renovation project.[57][58]
Christ Cathedral is home to theHazel Wright Organ, the fifth largestpipe organ in the world,[5] It was constructed by the firmFratelli Ruffatti in Padua, Italy, based on specifications provided by the organistsVirgil Fox andFrederick Swann. Swann served as the organist at the Crystal Cathedral from 1982 to 1998. The Hazel Wright Organ has 273 ranks and fivemanuals. It incorporates the largeAeolian-Skinner pipe organ built in 1962 for New York'sPhilharmonic Hall along with the smaller Ruffatti organ that was installed in the original Garden Grove church.[5]
In 2013, the diocese dismantled the Hazel Wright Organ and shipped it back to Fratelli Ruffatti for a $2 million refurbishing. As part of the remodeled interior, the organ was also repainted white so that it would not draw attention away from the altar.[59][36][34] It was reinstalled in Christ Cathedral in early 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed there-voicing of the organ until late 2021. The organ restoration was completed on February 7, 2022. A re-dedication concert featuring organist Hector Olivera was held on September 30, 2022.[60]
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