The following comes from a Sept. 16 story on Breitbart News.
There may be a new gravitational center for Catholic thought on the very land tread by 1700s Spanish Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra, and a lawyer is at the heart of much of it.
It’s indicative of the move in recent years by the Catholic laity to assume more leadership roles in the Church, taking up Saint Pope John Paul II’s banner of the New Evangelization. But like any startup endeavor, it takes money, expertise and the right location.
Orange County-based attorney and businessman Tim Busch has been practicing law for 35 years, and is the founder of the law firm of Busch & Caspino (with Michael Caspino, who, as reported by Breitbart News, recently spearheaded efforts to retrieve a Consecrated Host from self-proclaimed satanists in Oklahoma City).
The firm handles estate planning, real estate and business transactions, taxes and litigation for high-net-worth individuals. It also specializes in dealing with a variety of legal issues for private schools, universities and religious organizations, especially the Catholic Church.
Along with his legal work, Bush is founder and CEO of Pacific Hospitality Group, which owns and manages eight hotels, along with the Meritage Collection of resorts from Napa Valley to La Jolla.
In his spare time, he co-founded two private Catholic schools — St. Anne School in Laguna Niguel, and JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano. Bush is a member of Legatus, an organization for Catholic CEOs and their spouses, and both he and wife Steph are active in in Catholic life and charities.
On the business side, Busch and his firm were heavily involved in the Catholic Diocese of Orange’s 2012 purchase of the 3,000-seat Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, a glittering glass structure, designed by architect Philip Johnson, and its accompanying 35-acre campus, after televangelist Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral Ministries fell into bankruptcy in 2010. The rapidly growing diocese, which has 1.2M Catholics, paid $57M, well less than the $200M it would have taken to build a new church on a lot half the size of the Garden Grove property.
Renamed Christ Cathedral, the main sanctuary of the church itself is currently undergoing renovation to make it suitable for a Catholic house of worship, but the campus itself is already buzzing.
Telling Breitbart News that the Cathedral might not be open for Mass until early 2017, Busch says, “You could never assemble that piece of property [now] in the center of Orange County, but it took 62 years at a time when Orange County wasn’t nearly as robust as it is today.”
According to Busch, the campus features six buildings comprising 350,000 square feet, and while the sanctuary isn’t open yet, it’s a functioning parish. Daily Masses (including ones in Spanish and Vietnamese) for the Christ Cathedral Parish community. are offered in the Arboretum, a 1961 building designed by architect Richard Neutra.
“Over 13,000 people go to Mass there every weekend,” says Busch. “It’s highly unusual to have a cathedral parish with that type of activity. Cathedral parishes are typically in urban areas, and absent St. Patrick’s Cathedral [in New York City], are rarely attended by the lay faithful.
“Normally, the families that belong to a cathedral parish are 500 to 1,000, and here you have more like 4,000 to 5,000 families. It’s very multicultural. So it’s really representative of not only our whole country, but our state and our nation and our whole faith.”
The diocesan headquarters are already on the campus, along with the Cathedral Academy, with preschool through Grade 8. Recently, worldwide Catholic satellite and radio network EWTN announced it was opening a West Coast studio in the 14-story Tower of Hope.
“It has become the home of multiple movements that are going on in the Church,” says Busch, “which include EWTN, but also a 25-station Catholic radio network called Immaculate Heart Radio. It’s also going to house the West Coast office of the Augustine Institute, which is a Biblical institute out of Denver. Then there’s the Magis Center, which is a reason-and-faith center that was started by Father Robert Spitzer.
“I actually co-founded it, and it’s been based in my office since its founding 10 years ago, and it’s being moved there. And Dynamic Catholic, which is Matthew Kelly, one of the most recognized Christian speakers, who is going to put a West Coast office there. And it goes on and on.
“There are several other ministries that are looking to relocate there. This is going to create great synergies among those ministries, to collaborate on donor bases and organizational structure.”
The Christ Cathedral campus replicates on a much larger scale what Busch has been doing in his own offices in Irvine, Calif. Along with the Magis Center and a chapel open to the public for Mass, it’s home to the Napa Institute, which Busch co-founded. It puts on events on both coasts intended to “equip participants to defend and advance their Catholic faith in ‘the next America’ — today’s emerging secular society.”
Its biggest event is an annual summertime conference, held at the Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa Valley (another of Busch’s businesses is a winery). Click here for videos of talks from past events.
While he laughs off the suggestion that he’s “Jesus’ lawyer,” Busch doesn’t downplay his big hopes for Christ Cathedral.
“The Christ Cathedral campus is another way of not only appealing to Catholics,” he says, “but appealing to people of all faiths. Our intent is to use the campus for all kinds of activities, and to bring people to the campus, because they’re not coming to church.
“Only 22 percent come to Mass, so we’ve got to reach out to them. As the Holy Father says, we must get out there and smell the sheep. We must get out there and meet people where they’re at, not wait in our churches and expect they’re going to show up there.”
In 2005, the Magis Institute, collaborating with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, sponsored the first annual Los Angeles Catholic Prayer Breakfast, the next edition of which takes place on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. It features a talk by Sister Regina Marie Gorman, the Vicar General of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.
The Orange County Prayer Breakfast, which began in 2006, takes place on Sept. 25. In 2013, it became part of the Napa Institute, and is to be held at Christ Cathedral. The keynote speaker is Dr. Tim Gray of the Augustine Institute, and the event ends with a tour of the Cathedral campus.
To read original story, click here.
Orange County has lots of Vietnamese Catholics, which helps!
After escaping the evils of Communism, many of them keep their faith at the center of their lives.
Let’s start by having the Traditional Latin Mass and sacraments available to all in Orange County.
Janek,
You DREAMER YOU!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika and His Church!
Viva Cristo Rey!
Kenneth M. Fisher
I know.
“Only 22 percent come to Mass, so we’ve got to reach out to them.” No kidding. Could it be because traditional Catholics, like myself, no longer recognize what the Mass has become?
Orange County is one of the most conservative counties in California. I applaud the new Christ Cathedral. Good material and spiritual investment. Even so, the 22% weekly Mass count is not a surprise; it is congruent with Catholic Mass attendance trends all over the country: about one third attend weekly, one third attend sporadically (monthly or “C&E” Christmas and Easter), and one third don’t go at all. With the exception of the Vatican, seminaries and convents, these numbers are pretty uniform around the country. It’s even worse in Europe where weekly Mass attendance averages about 10%.
The reasons for these departure from weekly Mass attendance are very obvious. The baby boom generation felt disconnected with a Church that spent all its energy opposing birth control, others are divorced and feel alienated from the that will not freely accept them; still others think the changes in the Mass are not relevant, and a few want a more inclusive Church in the model of Pope Francis. Many women….and men….support women priests but there is no room for them according to the Vatican. We have fewer priests and consecrated nuns and brothers, too, so the departures from the priesthood and the plunge in vocations are also congruent with what’s going on the laity.
The upshot here is to “keep the faith” irrespective of where you are in the journey of life. Whether it’s isolation from the Church right now, or you are going to Mass daily, keep believing, helping those in need, praying daily, and offering encouragement to others. That’s the best wisdom to staying close to Christ while the Church works out is difficulties. All this will happen in God’s own good time.
There have been some great events recently within the Diocese of Orange in regards to exorcism and deliverance ministry. I just bought some CDs from SCRC’s 2012 weekend. I highly recommend buying and listening to them: Part 1: “The Ministry of Exorcism in the 21st Century” by Fr. Gary Thomas
Part 2: “Closing the Door to Darkness: Opening to the Holy Spirit” by Fr. Kenneth Nobrega and Dr. Margarett Schlientz
Part 3: “Breaking Hexes and Curses–Protecting Your Environment” by Fr.Jose Antonio Fortea
Part 4: “General Assembly: God of Power and Might” by Fr. Gary Thomas and Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea
Part 5: “The Relationship Between the Psychological and the Demonic” by Fr. Kenneth Nobrega and Dr. Margarett Schlientz
Part 6: “Overcoming Vulnerabilities to Demonic Influences” by Msgr. James Mancini
Part 7: “Fear No Evil: Winning the Battle of the Mind” by Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea
Part 8: “Inner Healing” by Dr. Margarett Schlientz
Part 9: “Walking in the Victory” by Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea
“Anonymous”: Nice try, but little of what you say about “why” people have left the Church/do not go to Mass, is accurate. People leave because the present Church, since the Vatican II revolution, simply fails to teach the Faith, and fails to have liturgy that makes any sense. Now two generations have been taught under the Kumbaya Regime, and have found it wanting. When you do not preach Faith, and the absolute reality of sin and need for the Church to provide the sacraments (to get to Heaven), then people rightly think — what is the big deal? And, they will not like the Church because it does not conform to the dopey notions of “equality” and “mulitculturalism” that is now required in everything political and social. You are correct that God ultimately decides, but that will not help people now that need the Church (but do not know it, or accept it). The real question now is where are the evangelizers? No, not the loons that yell out about the “New Evangelization,” which is a complete non-sequitur, as Christ’s great commission to the Apostles to evangelize the World, remains in full force and effect. We need the people, like Cardinal Burke, that fearlessly say what the truth is and what is needed to obtain salvation. Sadly, few Catholics fill this role. It would be interesting to learn what Sister Regina Marie Gorman actually teaches. (The full habit is very nice, but why the use of her family name? And, anything much to do with the Crystal Cathedral is immediately suspect. Will they say the TLM there? We shall see.) People leave the Church, because they no longer see any reason to be practicing Catholics.
St. Christopher, you may be correct, but… Oversimplification doesn’t help a lot. Data does. A recent, well accepted poll showed that the majority of people who leave the church, especially if they are under 24 years old, because of the church’s stand on gays, marriage and divorce, and the handling of wayward priests. Smaller percentages leave because the preaching is not good, the Mass is boring, etc. A smaller percentage leave for other reasons. If we could improve the way we handle these things, (different that changing dogma) we might keep them in the corral. This is an age of instant communications, fast paced tv, etc. The old read sermons won’t cut it.
Bob One..preaching the Truth will cut it…if people don’t like what they hear then its on them
People who choose sin over the teachings of Christ (and His Church) in the Bible, will NOT stay regardless of capitulation to their secular thinking.
They will still leave the Church.
It is not ‘pastoral’ to confirm anyone in Mortal Sin.
However, Bishops, Priests, Nuns, and Laity should actively encourage people to read a Catholic ‘Bible’ and the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition’.
1) Most people leave because they have never been properly catechized – and this is neglected by many Bishops and Priests.
2) Some people leave because some Clergy do not adhere to GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), so Mass is not reverent.
3) Some people leave because of the mortal Sin of Scandal / Sacrilege which is not corrected by Bishops – causing confusion and/or disbelief.
MIKE they always leave because of bad will. Regardless, we are to be faithful till the end, even at the face of adversity. People here complain about V2 (yes valid concerns with any era of our church) but in doing my studies, they always seem to sugar coat the problems that lead to the dissent before V2. People dissented and did not apply V2 the way it was meant to but as we can see, the lay faithful who are applying its good, are the ones faithful and fighting the good fight. Yes it seems like a few but that is all we need, remember what Christ said about having faith as small as the mustered seed?
Many of the clergy who dissented during V2 grew up before V2, they already were bad seeds that where just looking for an opportunity to change the church. But V2 does not change dogma, instead it just adds to the evangelization needed. Yes there were problems but that is what Pope Benedict tried to correcting. Now with this New Pope, which we still need to pray for, even with fasting, we have concerns but regardless of what people want to complain, this is still Christ’s church. We need to take pride in His church by protecting it, not be bought or lead in what direction our moods lead us just because of current Papacy issues.
If people returned to God, if they grew holy, prayerful and with fasting, disciplining their tongues, words etc we would turn our church around. But instead we have many who are hardened of hearts, many who give up, many who are prideful because they do not see instant results. Many who are scandalized as well. Could it be that they are focusing on the problems of men but not on the words of Christ’s? How about our Lord’s promises to us? Don’t they mean anything anymore.
Prayer is not magic, its not to order God around but its to unite with God, through communicating with our Lord, learning to listen to Him in humble supplication, its to grow in meekness, to trust, to build a relationship with our Lord etc. All in His Time, not ours. That is what keeps us humble and meek.
I reflect on the times when the church had issues with papacy’s in the past, I wonder if the people back then:
1. Remained faithful, some didn’t and started their own protestant sects etc
2. Did they panic and ignored their call to prayer and fasting Did they act? Yes through the saints, today we have saints amongst us but we do not know who they are, but they are with us.
3. How did they handle adversity? Perhaps they were more versed with Christ’s holy words and that is what gave them strength and stood up to the dissenters, heretics, schismatics etc.
Well I pray, even if I don’t make an impact, since I am not in positions of power, I still pray to our Lord often and ask Him to help us keep our eye’s fixed on Him. Even when we feel helpless and scandalized, we pray for His graces to protect us from falling into despair, from propaganda against His church, from loose bad will tongue just because we feel discouraged, that God be our strength in everything especially in the face of adversity. God be our all.
We must trust that God will punish the wicked and be merciful to those mislead. Like with anytime in history, we need to look to the saints, how they handled themselves, many were persecuted, but still they demonstrated their faithfulness through their holy obedience to all that is holy and in truth in full communion with Christ’s church. They changed hearts. They are the church, just like the lay faithful today are the church.
The bad willed, the dissenters are not the lay faithful from the church because they have spiritually separated themselves from the body of Christ. Christ was the victim due to our sins, He went through His passion for us, so is the church(which is His body), its going through the same abuse again due to the sins of those of bad will.
What did the faithful do when Christ was beaten, ridiculed, taken to the cross? One denied Him 3 times, some despaired, some just followed to where He was taken, they felt helpless, unable to rescue their beloved Lord, many wept and prayed, trusting in His word etc.
Let us not forget…let us do honor to our Lord. Love Him with all your heart, your being…display it with trust, confidence in Him through prayer and fasting. Our Lord did ask us to pray. Keep your eye’s fixed on Jesus.
“Bob One”: Your commnet is like those of most Liberals: argue that the Truth is “old news” and that “new is needed”. Well, you have a friend with Cardinal Kasper (and, apparently, Pope Francis) as to much of the “old thinking is out” regarding Catholic sexual ethics. Of course, you cite to no “well accepted poll” which makes your comment meaningless. Even more importantly, there will certainly be polls that support everything: women priests, divorced/remarried freely obtaining all sacraments, homosexual “marriages,” no-risk (and no-morals) fornication (also that living together is fine), and on and on. As “Canisius” and “MIKE” say correctly, the Catholic truth is the truth, and the wilfully sinful will continue to sin. As Francis and his buddies will see — and as the Post-Vatican II Church has seen — changing the rules does not mean much of anything. Sure, the Liberals say, “if we only change this or that, everything will be great, and the Churches and seminaries will be full again;” all of that. Yet, change brings destruction: for example, Bishop H.E. Johan Bonny (Antwerp) demands the elimination of “Humanae Vitae” but presides over a failed diocese, with no ordinations for the past three years (look at “Rorate Caeli” for a short but powerful refutation of him by Bishop Oster (Passau, Ger.). There are many other churches and denominations where you can find what you obviously seek: go to them and enjoy. No one, including Pope Francis, has the right to alter basic Church doctrine; there will be Hell to pay.
Individual’s who practice artificial birth control are gravely sinning senor…if evildoer’s who commit sacrilege want to remain, they need to leave the sacrilege outside the Church door…sacrilege and artificial birth control are not congruent with the Church’s teaching on “faith and morals”…
Didn’t know one (wealthy) Catholic guy was behind all these things. Amazing what one person has been gifted to accomplish. As Paul Harvey always said “Now you know the rest of the story.” Let’s pray the Holy Spirit is behind the efforts.
Speaking of His Grace Cardinal Leo Raymond Burke he will most likely be demoted as Prefect of The Apostolic Signatura and banished to Malta. According to “Rorate Caeli” blog and Sandro Magister, he is another victim of the de-Ratzingeration of the Vatican by Pope Francis the “humble”. As were the Franciscans of The Immaculate, the purge continues of anything that smells of Tradition or The Traditional Latin Mass.
You speak truth. In these times, we do not need a “humble” Pope, no, we need a warrior Pope. A Pope that will battle strongly against the evil in the world, the sodomites, the Liberals, the Moslem hordes who seek our death or subjugation. Put on your armor, Holy Father…Defend our Church!
It’s so encouraging to read positive things happening in the Church. I attended Bishop Flores’ funeral Mass today and the church was filled with priests, bishops, cardinals, family and friends of the deceased bishop. The hall of the church was filled with hundreds more to watch the Mass live streamed. This bishop was only 66 years old but obviously impacted the lives of so many. We must all work to regain our faith through good catechesis. God Bless our Church!
Now deceased Bishop Flores obviously had a role in the visit of the sodomite friendly, if not one himself, priest Fr. Richard Radcliff to the Diocese of Sad Diego!
Pray for his eternal soul, he had to answer for that SCANDAL!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika and His Church!
Viva Cristo Rey!
Kenneth M. Fisher
I’ll believe that Orange County is the new center for Catholicism when I see a truly effective prolife program actively bringin the prolife message to each individual Church in Orange County. What I’ve seen so far indicates that there is a desperate need for a prolife revival in this Diocese! Writers for Life at prolifedigest.com