Iconic glass-paned church converted to Catholic cathedral
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — An iconic glasspaned church in Southern California that once housed a booming televangelist ministry has been transformed into a cathedral to give the region’s Catholics a long-awaited and much larger place to congregate and pray.
The landmark, with a facade made up of nearly 11,000 glass panes, was long known as Rev. Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral.
It appears unchanged from the outside. But the cavernous house of worship is covered on the inside with quatrefoil window shades that send sunlight cascading across a stone altar, wooden pews and prominent steel crucifix.
The changes are part of a $77 million makeover to convert the space for Roman Catholic worship by adding features such as the Bishop’s chair and the geometric window shades that draw in light while keeping the 2,100-seat building now known as Christ Cathedral cool and airy under the glaring afternoon sun.
“Our hope is that through the beauty of this place people will be drawn closer to the divine,” said Father Christopher Smith, episcopal vicar and rector of Christ Cathedral. “Every time people have walked in here since we’ve opened it up to people to see it, that is exactly what’s happened.”
The July 17 dedication of the building opens a new chapter for the diocese of Orange, which was formed in the 1970s when the county’s population was much smaller. Since then, Orange County has grown into a densely-populated and diverse region between Los Angeles and San Diego that is home to more than a million Catholics.