Or maybe it’s all the same thing.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, California, is one of the few that is growing in this era of declining church membership. With an influx of Asian and Latino parishioners, it is the largest Catholic diocese west of the Mississippi River. To serve its burgeoning membership, it is working to re-open an architectural landmark that rivals the close-by Disneyland.
Seventy-five motorists brought their families to the first service of Rev. Robert H. Schuller’s Garden Grove Community Church in the spring of 1955. He preached from the roof of the concession stand at a drive-in theater he rented on Sunday mornings. His advertisement in a local paper invited people to, “Worship as you are, in the family car.” Six years later, the church moved to a new location, near Disneyland, another southern California icon that also opened in 1955. A few years after that, he built the 14-story glass “Tower of Hope” on the property. A 90-foot neon cross beamed from atop the new offices and chapel.
The most impressive architecture was yet to come. The Crystal Cathedral opened in 1980. The structure, with 10,000 panes of glass and longer than a football field, held 3,000 churchgoers and 1,000 singers and musician. It featured a colossal pipe organ and a giant television screen. Another screen was outside for the dive-in worshippers. A fitting base for its “Hour of Power” telecasts.
Reverend Schuller retired in 2006, leaving control of the church, and its massive debt, to his son, Robert A. Like many family businesses, intra-familial squabbling ensued. Robert was exiled within two years, his sisters and their spouses taking control. The church filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Robert A. Schuller blames his father.
Enter the Catholic Diocese with $57.5 million in hand to purchase the 36-acre property at a bargain price. The diocese is spending $72 million more for remodeling. The renamed Christ Cathedral is scheduled to open in 2019.
