Crystal Cathedral Update

On August 26, 2007 I posted photos of the Crystal Cathedral here, and wrote about my history with and multiple (somewhat remote) connections with the place, from my Dad’s involvement with selling the founder a painting, to living next door in my 6^th grade year, to later having a Supervisor in the late 1970’s, Pat Powell, who lived across the street and attended it (her daughter was involved in the annual “Glory of Christmas” events), to having an administrator of another job, Jan Halverson, leave to join the fund raising efforts there in the early 2000’s, ending with my visit there with my work colleague, Tanya Cao.   Subsequent to that posting, another former work colleague, Roger Hiles, having seen my post, noted that the architect responsible for the “Tower of Hope”, Richard Neutra  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neutra , was the father of the architect for the building in which we’d worked together at the Huntington Beach Public Library, Dion Neutra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dion_Neutra .

So this is the update.  My newest, equally remote, but still interesting connection with the Crystal Cathedral Ministries at 12141 Lewis Street in Garden Grove, CA (92840) http://www.crystalcathedral.org/  is that the University I work for, Chapman University in Orange, CA http://www.chapman.edu/ , nearly purchased it when it went bankrupt last year.  They were out-bid, however, by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange http://www.rcbo.org/  who has this to say about their new purchase:
 “Our goal is to preserve an already cherished religious landmark and to enhance its worship use for Orange County Catholics and all people of faith who may be inspired by this wonderful, now Catholic, Cathedral,”
- Bishop Tod D. Brown

A couple of Sunday’s ago Don and I visited the cathedral.  I took these photos with my 85 mm lens and hope to return for some wide angle shots and a listen to this monstrous pipe organ that Wikipedia says is one of the largest in the world.  The gentleman we bumped into there, a church elder by the looks of him, said the Crystal Cathedral Ministries will be staying there for three years before they move up the street to the church that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange included in their payment for the grounds.  He said they are doing better financially which lead Don to think there might be some chance of their keeping the cathedral.  Time will tell.

 

The Crystal Cathedral Ministries had it's origin in 1955 when Reverend Robert Schuller (Protestant), began the "Garden Grove Community Church” on a piece of property that used to be a drive in. Robert Schuller became well known after building the first church that he called "The Tower of Hope", with his televised "Hour of Power" that began in 1970. His dream of the "Crystal Cathedral" materialized in 1981 and seats 2,736 people. When Reverend Schuller retired his children managed the Ministry, until they fell into bankruptcy in October 2010 (their total debt was said to be 55 million). They sold the Cathedral and grounds to the Orange County Catholic Diocese for $57.5 million. There is more information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Cathedral ,  where the dates and numbers in this paragraph came from.