This communication is an update regarding the investigation of the design and constructions issues of the Diocesan Cathedral Center.
As reported last fall, the Catholic Cathedral Corporation of the East Bay board of directors approved a plan recommended by our expert consultants for additional testing and inspection of Cathedral Center buildings. Completed in December of 2016, the testing was undertaken as part of our ongoing legal action to ensure that the responsible parties pay for the necessary corrective work.
The testing uncovered underlying conditions in the buildings which help explain why we are experiencing water intrusion, sagging of building floors and issues with doors and cracking drywall.
Since this is a complex case, it is not possible to predict the timeline or outcome of the mediation.
We know this case is taking substantial time to develop, but construction cases generally take more time than other cases because of the extensive testing and evaluation processes that must happen and because a large number of companies were involved in the design and construction process.
The original architect and structural engineer have advised us the Cathedral Center buildings are safe for our employees, visitors and parishioners to occupy.
Full story in the June 19 issue of The Weekly, published for employees, parish staff, clergy and religious of the Diocese of Oakland.
That is about the ugliest, most inappropriate design for a cathedral I have ever seen. It resembles an alien spacecraft.
see sacredarchicture.org volumn 15, richard alderman for a balanced review of the good and bad. the last section of his fine article is captioned ‘christ in the jumbotron’, the section in which he finally details the tragic failure of the design that created a ‘sterile grey void’. the design committees were so fearful of being too catholic, in the name of unity, that they left a work with no identity or personality,
For those of us who love the design, well, we like it. The inside is amazing. The ocular ceiling, the image of Christ that makes up the back wall, (from the door to Chartres Cathedral), to the small chapels on the sides of the nave. the congregation focused on the altar, the huge crucifix at the Ambo, and the huge organ with its pipes soaring. It is just magnificent. And then, there is the glass floor at the altar that shines light onto the catafalque in the cemetery under the building itself. Wow! Modern? Yes! Of our age? Yes! Of the middle ages? No! In 100 years it will be considered old fashioned.