Construction continues at Christ Cathedral, as the iconic structure transforms into a welcoming, versatile worship space for Catholics across the Diocese of Orange.
Construction has been underway for 7 months and is scheduled to finish in 2019. The average current work force on site is 90 workers each day.
The Diocese of Orange purchased the 78,000-square-foot cathedral in 2011 and the initial design concept was unveiled in late 2015. Most recent work includes:
1. The foundation was recently installed for the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and the Baptistery. Additionally, steel was placed for the cathedral’s two new elevators.
2. Scaffolding now climbs the cathedral’s inner glass walls including, most recently, the north side. The scaffolding allows workers to paint and clean all of the 10,000 glass windows, trusses, install fire sprinklers, lighting and the Quatrefoil panels.
3. The choir balcony steel and metal decking were constructed on the cathedral’s north side, with stairs leading up to the balcony from the main floor and down to the undercroft.
4. The wall framing in the undercroft continues along with drywall installation. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing work continues to progress well. The undercroft includes worship spaces, offices, choir practice room, restrooms, bride and groom areas, equipment and storage space.
5. Preparations continue for the installation of the new main cathedral doors. The existing entrances were removed in mid-November 2017 and will be replaced with new doors constructed from blackened steel and cladding created by an artist. Each new door will weigh approximately 7,000 pounds and will measure 14’ 5” long by 10’ high. The new doors are currently scheduled to be installed late summer 2018.
Full story at OC Catholic.
The words WORSHIP SPACE should sound off alarms in any true Catholic’s mind. By using weird terms as that one as well as SACRAMENTAL MINISTER, one can tell that this is not a step in the right direction. Words are important, and the correct ones must always be used. Otherwise there is chaos and confusion, which are tools of Satan.
Pilar, you are correct. Words matter. A church is comprised of many parts: meeting rooms, sacristy, narthex, offices, etc. Usually the largest part of the church is the nave, set aside for worship. I could be called a worship center, would’t you agree?
Pilar, I am in complete agreement with you. [A fairly rare circumstance.] For God’s sake, let’s stop using invented words like “worship space”, “presider”, “sacramental minister” and return to terms which have always had true Catholic meaning. The “worship space” is the church interior, more specifically the sanctuary. As a priest, I don’t “preside” at the celebration of the Mass, I celebrate it, together with the assistance of the “haec circumstantium” [as the Roman Canon has it]—the non-ordained who offer the Sacrifice, in their proper role, with me. These are the “faithful” or the “people of God”—and not the “assembly”, which is more reminiscent of a high-school football rally than a worshipping parish…
If the door weighs 7,000 pounds, as cited in the article, can one person open it? If not, how is it opened??
Even though a door weights 7,000 pounds, if it is mounted well on a hinge you could open it with your pinky finger. Think about your front door and the ease with which you open it because of the way it is mounted.
Considering the amount of time, now years, needed to “redo” the Chrystal Cathedral, plus the fact the Diocese already had purchased land in Santa Ana near South Coast Plaza to build a cathedral, it likely would have been far quicker and less expensive to build a beautiful Catholic cathedral on that Santa Ana site.
Let us also not forget that the reason for the delay in building at the Santa Ana site was because the Diocese needed those millions of dollars to pay for the priest abuse claims. Yet, here we are today, years later, and we still are reading about sexual predators inside the Vatican as well as a disgraced US Cardinal being appointed by the Vatican to represent the Pope at a celebration in Scranton, PA. On the bright side,…
“Pilar” and “Truth Seeker”: These are words describing a different religion, sadly. The “Catholic” Church you describe includes clergy and “faithful” that no longer even understand what the Catholic Church stands for, much less practice the True Faith. Many, many Catholics now, for example, have no understanding of the Real Presence, of sin and salvation, and of the complete immorality of sex outside man-woman marriage.
The purchase of this church was a crazy idea. The finished process will pretty much look Protestant. One wonders why anyone believes that what goes on there will be “Catholic.”