That must have been so devastating for the Schuller family to see their church go into bankruptcy. Amazing he had the tv show for 40 years.
An interesting article here. It looks like a lot of family feuding going on.
Good questions. From what I know about bankruptcies, you have to know how to deal with your creditors. I think something like 13 dioceses have been forced into similar bankruptcies. There are probably some who are also heavy in debt but their creditors have so far have given them some slack. I recently checked the Archdiocese of Chicago and found they have some $115 million borrowed from the City of Chicago et al. They also have enough in assets to pay those off if they had to but they wouldn’t have much on a cash flow basis if it comes to that. In the Crystal Cathedral’s case the proceeds from the sale of the church covered their creditors but left them without much assets or cash flow. There are obviously a lot of people, like the owners of those stones, who got hurt in the process as well.
According to the Diocese of Orange, the area that surrounds the cathedral will be undergoing a renovation in which a plaza will be created. Right now, the stones are in the way of the planned construction. The stones and statues have been and will be temporarily removed and then placed into their own ‘Crystal Cathedral Ministries Legacy Garden.’
I think what put them into dept was more practical reasons, like the heating and air conditioning. It get very hot in there with the glass and cold at night without the heat. I’d imagine their electric bill was a hefty amount per month.
Then whoever plans to use that building will be facing the same (if not higher) expenses. If they need to borrow money for any reason, that will most definitely be a factor in getting the money.
Thank you Jane for the info. It does sound like the Catholic church is doing as much as possible to help heal any wounds or misgivings the previous congregation might have. The legacy garden is a nice idea and having a burial spot for Catholics and non-catholics is nice.
The Diocese of Orange has already taken that into consideration. That’s why in the remodeling of the interior of the cathedral, they’re adding Quatrefoils.
Interesting! Those will definitely help. Are those the “petals” referred to in the article? Thanks for the video. This will be a beautiful church and campus when it is complete.
I agree; it’s an interesting idea. I know some of those ideas were thrown around ever since they were building indoor baseball stadiums but ballplayers couldn’t see the ball. Makes me wonder, though, why the Schuller ministries had not thought of using solar power or the like. It sounds like the area has plenty of sun.
So are Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, and St. Peter’s in Rome, just to name two older churchs.ocregister.com/articles/cathedral-636281-campus-million.html
I understand needing a place, I really do. This just seems so excessive.
If you go back to the beginning of this thread, there is a map of the interior.