From Crystal Cathedral to Christ Cathedral: Major renovation completed after 12 years

CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2024 / 08:00 am

The Diocese of Orange in California has officially finished its renovation of Christ Cathedral, a onetime-Protestant megachurch, after more than a decade of work that brings to completion what the diocese calls a “major center of Catholic worship.”

The cathedral has been fully operational for five years and currently hosts nearly a dozen Masses in multiple languages every weekend, serving upward of 12,000 Catholics. 

The diocese in 2011 purchased the massive glass-faced building, previously the center of the Presbyterian Shepherd’s Grove congregation, for $57.5 million. The diocese had long been planning to build a new cathedral in nearby Santa Ana before the building, then known as the Crystal Cathedral, went up for auction.

Shortly after its purchase, the diocese launched a total renovation project to “redesign the main building to comply [with] Catholic liturgical tradition and needs.” The diocese ultimately dedicated the cathedral in 2019 after a seven-year, $77-million renovation process.

The diocese announced earlier this month that it had finally completed the renovation of the building, heralding a “milestone moment in the history of the diocese” that has established the cathedral as “a major center of Catholic worship for the West Coast.”

The diocese said it had finished work on the building’s St. Callistus Chapel and Crypts, which finalized “all the major components of the original vision to transform the Crystal Cathedral into Christ Cathedral.” A dedication Mass of the chapel and crypts was held on Monday.

“It was a long path to reach this moment,” Orange Bishop Kevin Vann said in the release, “but the Lord gets us to where we need to be.”

“I hope all feel a great sense of gratitude, and I’m particularly thankful for everybody who participated in this, from beginning to end,” the bishop said. 

The full project included “renovating the cathedral, arboretum, and Tower of Hope; expanding the Cathedral Memorial Gardens cemetery; building the Our Lady of La Vang Shrine and Marian Gardens; and restoring the Hazel Wright Organ,” the diocese said. 

The Hazel Wright Organ, the cathedral says on its website, is “the fifth-largest pipe organ in the world, with more than 17,000 pipes, more than 300 stops, and nearly 300 ranks.”  

It was built in 1982 and is “arguably the most widely heard organ in the world,” owing to the widely-viewed weekly “Hour of Power” television show that had for years been broadcast out of the building by the Shepherd’s Grove congregation. 

The St. Callistus chapel, meanwhile, features “an elaborate tabernacle inspired by 12-century masterpieces of medieval goldsmithing,” the diocese said. Music for the chapel will be provided by a smaller pipe organ. A relic of the third-century St. Callistus I will also reside in the chapel’s reliquary.

The chapel also features a tribute to Robert Schuller, the founder of the Crystal Cathedral, as well as his wife, Arvella. Both were “key supporters in the sale of their iconic glass church and its environs to the Diocese of Orange.”

The cathedral’s expansive campus includes multiple buildings, including a diocesan pastoral center, a cultural center, a gift shop, and several other structures. EWTN, the parent company of CNA, also has a television studio on the campus.

The Orange Diocese includes 1.3 million Catholics, 58 parishes, five Catholic centers, and 36 schools. Every weekend, Christ Cathedral offers a total of 11 Masses in four languages — English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese.