The landmark Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove has a new name: Christ Cathedral.
At an ordination ceremony for four priests Saturday morning at St. Columban Catholic Church in Garden Grove, Bishop Tod D. Brown made the announcement.
“We hold Rev. [Robert Schuller] and his ministry in the highest esteem. It is important that any change of name for the cathedral itself be respectful of its spiritual legacy while accommodating our needs to clearly define this important facility as a Catholic center of worship,” he said.
The Cathedral, opened in 1980, was sold in 2011 to the Catholic Diocese of Orange t
o help pay off $40 million in debt owned by the Crystal Cathedral congregation. The group will remain at the location at Chapman Avenue and Lewis Street until June 2013, when it will move to the current site of St. Callistus Catholic Church, located at Lewis and Garden Grove Boulevard in Garden Grove, a short distance away.
Christ Cathedral will serve as the central spiritual and operations location for Catholics in Orange County. In addition to the world-famous sanctuary, the grounds of the facility also include several office buildings, the original Tower of Hope and a cemetery.
The Crystal Cathedral congregation was founded as Garden Grove Community Church by Rev. Robert Schuller in the Fifties, and was renamed after its most famous building in 1980. The church, with its popular “Hour of Power” television program, prospered until a few years ago.
An aging congregation, the effects of the Great Recession and infighting among members of the Schuller family have been blamed for its decline and the eventual sale of the property.
In its heyday, the cathedral was a place of wonders; a place of inspiration and pride for thousands of congregants locally and the world over. In recent years it has clearly shown the effects of age and neglect. Rain and soil stains the glass panes of the once-glistening sanctuary, broken and worn fixtures abound. No longer a place of vitality where multititudes throng, Sunday services are attended today by a relative handful of blue-haired ladies and stooped old men. The cathedral is a forelorn monument to a self-aggrandizing and pompous brand of piety born of the ego of its creator, and I am not saddened to see its time come to an end.
“Christ Cathedral” is a perfect name for this magnificent architectural structure. May God bless the increasing growth in the future for this amazing church as it moves forward.
May God also bless Dr. Robert Schuller for his many years of hard work and dedication to make “America’s favorite church service” a success through Jesus Christd our Lord. He will be missed!
Boy, the new name took alot of thought !