Crystal Cathedral

This article is about the building in Garden Grove, California. For the church organization headquartered there, see Crystal Cathedral Ministries.

Crystal Cathedral
Country	United States
Denomination	Reformed Church in America
Website	www.crystalcathedral.org
History
Founded	1955
Founder(s)	Robert H. Schuller
Dedicated	1980
Architecture
Architect(s)	Philip Johnson
Style	Modern architecture
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Sheila Schuller Coleman

The Crystal Cathedral is a Christian church building in Garden Grove, Orange County, California, United States. The building, designed by architect Philip Johnson, was completed in 1981 and seats 2,736 people.

Since its construction the building has been the principal place of worship for Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a Protestant Christian church organization founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy in October 2010, and in February 2012 sold the building and its adjacent campus to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange for future use as the diocese's cathedral. Under the terms of the sale the building and most of the campus will continue to be used by Crystal Cathedral Ministries for the next three years before being renovated for use as a Roman Catholic cathedral.

History

Origins and construction

Interior of the church in 2005

The Garden Grove Community Church was founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and his wife Arvella. An affiliate of the Reformed Church in America, the church first held services in space rented from the Orange Drive-In Theatre.

In 1961, the congregation moved to a new sanctuary designed by architect Richard Neutra. In 1968, The Tower of Hope was completed, providing office and classroom space. Continued growth led to the need for a new facility. Schuller envisioned a unique facility with walls made of glass and commissioned architect Philip Johnson. Construction on the Crystal Cathedral began in 1977 and was completed in 1980, built at a cost of $18 million. The signature rectangular panes of glass comprising the building are not bolted to the structure; they are glued to it using a silicone-based glue. This and other measures are intended to allow the building to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8.0. The building was constructed using over 10,000 rectangular panes of glass.

The church changed its name to Crystal Cathedral when it moved into the building in 1981. Upon moving from the old Neutra sanctuary to the new Johnson sanctuary in 1981, the congregation changed its name to the "Crystal Cathedral". The name is merely an alliterative construct; the building is not made of crystal and it is not a true cathedral in that it does not house a bishop's official seat (cathedra). In 1990 the Prayer Spire was completed.

Crystal Cathedral Ministries bankruptcy

Beginning in 2010, creditors of Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed lawsuits to collect money due to them for providing goods, services and broadcasting The Hour of Power weekly TV show. A board member said that the total debt was $55 million.

The church's board filed for bankruptcy on October 18, 2010, citing $43 million in debt including a $36 million mortgage and $7.5 million in other debt. Church officials said that they had been trying to negotiate payments but after several suits were filed and writs of attachment were granted the church had to declare bankruptcy.

The church received offers for the building from a real estate investment group and from Chapman University.

Purchase by the Diocese of Orange

On July 7, 2011, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, which had long been seeking to build a new and larger cathedral in or around Santa Ana, announced that it was “potentially interested” in buying the church campus for future use as its diocesan cathedral. Two weeks later, the diocese followed up with a cash offer of $53.6 million which included a lease-back provision at below market rates for a period of time. On November 17, 2011, a federal judge approved selling the Crystal Cathedral to the Diocese of Orange for $57.5 million.

Days after the judge's ruling, Italian newspaper La Stampa used a picture of the Crystal Cathedral to illustrate an article reporting on the establishment of a Vatican commission "to put a stop to garage style churches, boldly shaped structures that risk denaturing modern places for Catholic worship." The Vatican approved the building two weeks following the judge's ruling.

The sale to the diocese was finalized on February 3, 2012. Under the terms of the sale Crystal Cathedral Ministries will lease most of the campus including the church and continue to use it for three years; the diocese has offered Crystal Cathedral Ministries a longer-term lease at nearby St. Callistus Church, whose parish the diocese anticipates "will eventually transfer" to the Crystal Cathedral campus. The diocese announced that the transfer of the cemetery located on the campus would be "immediate", and that it would soon be establishing offices on the campus. The building's new name as a Roman Catholic cathedral will be designated by the Holy See while also taking suggestions from the diocese and its members. Tod Brown, Bishop of Orange, has stated that the diocese intends to hire an architect to renovate the facility "so it will be suitable for a Catholic place of worship", but has "no intention to change the exterior of the building."

Organ

Main article: Crystal Cathedral organ

The church's 273 rank, five manual pipe organ is one of the largest in the world. Constructed by Fratelli Ruffatti and based on specifications by Virgil Fox and expanded by Frederick Swann, the instrument incorporates the large Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ built in 1962 for New York's Philharmonic Hall (now called Avery Fisher Hall), and the Ruffatti organ which had been installed in the church's previous sanctuary. Swann was organist at the Crystal Cathedral between 1982–1998.

Prayer Spire

External links

• Official website