The following comes from a September 6 OC Catholic article:
The Diocese of Orange will celebrate its 40-year history on Sept. 18 with an entire day of activities that begin first thing in the morning with a 5k race, and end late in the evening with a much-anticipated concert. While the last four decades will be commemorated, the real focus of the celebration will be on the future.
A very special virtual reality event that day will allow congregants to get a glimpse of the fully renovated Christ Cathedral, two years before its scheduled completion.
Using hi-tech virtual reality equipment and complex software the public will be able to tour the interior of the cathedral as it will look when completed, all while sitting within the existing still-under-construction cathedral space.
Ryan Lilyengren, director of communications for the Diocese of Orange, said, “We may be the first Catholic Diocese to introduce a new cathedral by inviting congregants and media into a virtual reality experience.” He added, “The fully immersive program will be a breakthrough for Church communications and further evidence of how the Diocese cherishes its past, but is clearly focused on the future.”
All who attend the anniversary celebration on Sept. 18 on the campus of Christ Cathedral will be able to share in the experience. It will be presented in a 3D format that will be mobile-device enabled, permitting thousands of regional Catholics their first glimpse of the future cathedral.
Over budget and behind schedule; the result will be a cathedral that is decidedly not Catholic in its architecture and marginally Catholic in its interior. With so much money and time spent on the project, the diocese is compelled to put on a happy face about it all rather than be honest about its inadequacies and the imprudence of the entire venture, which the diocese committed itself to rashly.
“We may be the first dioceses to introduce a new cathedral with a virtual reality experience.” Big deal. PR spin.
Maybe they’ll play Pokemon Go too.
This is rather unnecessarily critical. Right now the Diocese of Orange uses Holy Family Cathedral, an old facility. They were planning to build a new one which would have cost more money than just acquiring Christ Cathedral. I’d wager they actually saved money by purchasing this, with all the facilities they will need (conference rooms, a theater, offices, etc) rather than building a new one. They are making efforts to make this suitable for Catholic Masses and other liturgies.
Therefore I find this comment–“with so much money”—akin to the Iscariot’s critical comment of Our Lord: “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” If we are to spend money (and the folks in Orange county…
can very well do so), why not spend it for Our Lord, and for His Glory! These pooh-poohers merely complain sometimes just for the sake of complaining without knowing what they’re saying.
jon, You seem to ignore the reality that many of the faithful are real estate agents and investors. They are privy to all information about the numerous beach house digs and properties. Living together in a rectory would save money but it’s not desirable when you want to lead a double life. Who in the world do you think you are fooling. with your duplicitous claim to be “spending It on Our Lord.” This was a selfish decision to give Our Lord second best because you and other Iscariots chose to line your own pocketbooks over the building of a new fitting Catholic Cathedral for Our Lord. continued….
Yes, jon. YOU chose to selfishly line your own corporate thinking pocketbooks over “spending it on Our Lord.” So please don’t fabricate excuses like the duplicitous Vatileaks butler and talk about the cost of building a new Cathedral when these same Iscariots squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in sex abuse cases because of protecting their friends who were also the very monsters that were harming our children. The money from the faithful has been spent by purchasing cushy residence properties all over Newport Beach, and other expensive areas in Orange County.
continued….
Stephen Brady, President of Roman Catholic Faithful was accurate when he gathered significant evidence that showed O.C. Diocese and San Diego Diocese were both large breeding nest grounds for homosexuals who do not agree with or support Church Teaching. Every person in authority was strategically promoted to keep a stranglehold on certain Church Teachings meanwhile claiming to be “spending it on Our Lord.” The lies must stop!
continued
continued..Lastly, the biggest proof that attention was NOT spent or given to Our Lord, is the insulting “virtual reality” that these Iscariots hid Our Lord from being seen in the most prominent location inside the Cathedral. Go ahead and swoon over your empty novelty of immersed “virtual realities” when HOLY based reality, Mr. Iscariot , would have been “spending the money on Our Lord”, and placing Him in the most fitting place for the King of Kings. The *HOLY PROOF* is hidden in the broom closet. Embarrassed about honoring the True Presence because many do not believe!
‘St. Peter Damian’s Book of Gomorrah – A Moral Blueprint for Our Times’
The Particular Malice of the Vice of Sodomy
“A wise Dominican once told this writer, that once the vice of sodomy has contaminated a seminary, Church authorities have only two options — close the place down and send everyone home or do nothing and simply wait for the moral rot to spread until the foundation collapses on its own. Why is this particular vice so deadly to the religious life? According to Damian, the vice of sodomy “surpasses the enormity of all others,” because: ” For entire article see the link below
https://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=2
The interior remodeling of the cathedral is expensive and inappropriate. It’s ruining an award-winning design. It’s also wasting a lot of money.
Your wager is wrong, jon.
The diocese had hoped to save money by purchasing the Crystal Cathedral complex instead of buying land and building a new campus, but the cost of renovating the Crystal Cathedral was underestimated by over $40 million dollars. Add that to the $57 million paid and it totals $100 million, or what it would have cost to build a new complex and buy land. They simply guessed how much renovation would cost; they didn’t study it responsibly. Now they are cutting back and scaling back and behind schedule.
A newspaper story tells about the embarrassing screw up: “Changing course: Diocese works to trim price tag of renovating iconic Christ Cathedral” (Orange County Register 4/22/16)
The diocese can be criticized…
Wrong. My wager is still viable. To acquire property that most likely costs $500 million for only 12% of that value “may not be” entirely bad. The good and generous folks in Orange County can very well manage this I reckon. Additionally, my observation that—minus any mismanagement of course–to spend money solely for Our Lord and for his glory (as that woman’s costly ointment was used for) was condoned even by Our Lord Himself: “Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you; but me you have not always.”
jon’s ignorance of Catholic doctrine is surpassed by his ignorance about real estate. Land on which a cathedral complex would be built would not cost $500 million, which is such an absurdly high amount as to be utterly laughable. Land acquisition is almost always the least expensive part of real estate development; building costs are overwhelmingly more expensive.
Even so, no cathedral complex built from scratch would have cost $500 million.
The diocese screwed up and the people will have to live with the expensive consequences for 200 years or more.
Sawyer is proven wrong YET AGAIN! According to the February 2014 issue of Legatus Magazine, the Crystal Cathedral Ministries property was an incredible real estate value with one estimate putting it at $500 million. Link is below. My point is that the Diocese acquired this on a DEAL!
Folks, these detractors have yet to prove that I am wrong with respect to Church doctrine or theology, and now, even concerning real estate.
However, Sawyer assertion that “The diocese screwed up and the people will have to live with the expensive consequences for 200 years or more” IS WHAT IS ABSURD. He apparently doesn’t know the type of faithful and generous folks in Orange County. And more importantly, the faithful in the Diocese are…
enthusiastic about this Cathedral and will support it. That alone will prove Sawyer wrong eventually.
https://legatus.org/transforming-the-crystal-cathedral/
“One estimate” placed its value at $500 million. Ha! An unattributed estimate by someone who obviously knows nothing about real estate values. Might as well refer to an anonymous seven year-old who thinks it’s worth a bazillion dollars.
The diocese screwed up, and the people will have to live with the ugly, expensive, unfortunate consequences for 200 years or more.
That’s not to say that no good will come out of this. Obviously, some good can and will come out of it. It’s just not going to be as good as it could have been for about the same amount of money. That is what is regrettable. Poor stewardship by the Diocese of Orange.
Therefore it boils down to credibility, Sawyer. Whom is the reader to believe; who has credibility? On the one hand we have an estimate quoted by the writer Judy Roberts who I am sure did her homework for her article published in a magazine read by members of the world’s premiere organization for Catholic business leaders committed to learn, live and spread the Catholic Faith. On the other we have YOU—who has been known to deliberately misdefine simple verbs such as “may” and to twist the Church’s use of the word “intrinsic disorder” in order to support an erroneous personal POV. Any sane, rational, thinking person will choose the former.
Please: at about the same time that the diocese was purchasing 34 acres with some buildings on it in Garden Grove, Larry Ellison was buying the entire island of Lanai and all of its hotel buildings and operations for $500 million or so.
You expect anyone to believe that 34 acres and some buildings in Garden Grove are to be valued the same as an entire 140 square mile Hawaiian island and all the structures on it?
Couple that with the fact that the Diocese of Raleigh, NC is building a new cathedral from scratch for only $41 million, and your claims are shown to be absurd.
I produce facts. You merely produce contradictions for the sake of contradicting. Credibility? It’s all on my side.
Yes, sorry to say Sawyer, but due to the various mis-definitions, mis-interpretations, and errors you have committed here in various posts of yours, you have lost credibility. Sorry.
MOREOVER, in addition to the credible estimate quoted by the writer of the article in a responsible Magazine, I can also say that I have VISITED the Cathedral complex and have been given an in-depth tour of the place, seeing and learning about what is in it which you cannot see and learn from just Googling things on the internet or on Wikipedia. Have you even visited the place?? Therefore, I can totally understand the figure quoted. And one other thing that buttresses the figure and discounts your point: location, location, location.
“The good and generous folks in Orange County can very well manage this I reckon.”
“I reckon” that jon is more passionately upset about the phrase “intrinsic disorder” than the imprudent wasting of $$$millions$$$ of other people’s dollars.
Luke 12:34
For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.
Yes, Catherine, you are correct that jon is most upset that I use the term “intrinsic disorder” correctly and reach valid conclusions about the nature of homosexuality. That is why he continues to harangue me and allege falsely that I have misrepresented and misinterpreted things, when I have never been guilty of such. He wants others to rely on proofs, but he doesn’t prove his charges against others; he merely throws the accusations around.
Yes, what is in his heart indeed? What does he treasure? Hmm…..
I have visited the cathedral campus and seen the inside of the airport terminal. You’re not special, jon. You believe what you want to believe about everything, and even when proven wrong with facts you simply assert the truth of your beliefs without evidence. An unattributed reference in an article is not a quote, by the way, nor is it valid evidence. I’m done posting in this story.
Actually, the estimate of $500 million is indeed attributable. The name of the person who gives the estimate is in that same article I linked to, plus it’s in another source which gives the name of the person from whom the figure originates.
Sawyer has missed one additional point which totally discounts his supposed credibility. The writer of the article is duty-bound in her profession to make sure her facts can be substantiated. It’s her work: her livelihood. She could get FIRED for not double-checking, and lose her income. AND WHAT DOES SAWYER have to lose? He has no skin in the game! He can just mouth off whatever he wants to in this blog (as he has been doing) and doesn’t have to suffer any real consequence. Folks,…
believe the writer of the article who is accountable to her employer/contractor, not some mere anonymous commenter in a blog.
How sad this has turned out…
The Orange Diocese got a GREAT deal on an entire campus, thanks be to God. It did a decent job of cleaning-up every building except the Crystal/Christ Cathedral itself.
Instead of embracing the cathedral’s existing, award-winning interior design, they’re now building an terribly expensive box inside of the cathedral! How inappropriate! What a hideous waste of money. Like putting cheap chrome wheels on a Porsche.
Utter hubris.
For the money, they could have built a more traditional Catholic Cathedral. But I like the gems you see pictured on EWTN in Rome, Italy. Or like The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, which is lovely. Also, haven’t been there yet, but the pictures of The Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama during Mother Angelica’s funeral mass looked so beautiful, it was breath-taking. Hope it does not end up being the white elephant of Catholic Churches but the ultra modern design style seems to be “out’ today. One wonders, was it ever really in? Looks more like a Tel-Evanglist style church VS Catholic. May it bring God glory someday.
The Diocese of Raleigh, NC is building a truly Catholic cathedral from scratch. Cost to build the cathedral: $41 million. Even accounting for more expensive construction costs in California, the Diocese of Orange could have had an inspiring, traditional Catholic cathedral instead of a structure more appropriate for an airport terminal, plus a campus for diocesan offices, for not much more than it will end up spending on the Crystal Cathedral purchase and renovation.
The diocese screwed up, and the people will live with the ugly consequences for 200 years or more.
See what a beautiful new cathedral should look like:
https://www.holynamecathedralnc.org/
S, Thanks for the interesting link. My old PC does not allow many images anymore. For what I did get to see, this looks better already & it is only 50% complete (then a bunch of glass called crystal). Love the dome. Beautiful.
Praise be to God.
Outstanding comment, “Sawyer”: The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant monstrosity that can never be made as a truly Catholic Church. Of course, not that the Bishop of O.C. cares much: a kneeler here and there, perhaps a tabernacle somewhere, and lots of feminized rituals. Sorry, I should have said, “Protestant” rituals, like the full immersion tub for baptism, the absence of altar rails and any form of Catholic art (this is anticipated), but lots of room for hand-holding, kumbaya stuff, and whining, “emotional” songs of Protestant origin, like “Amazing Grace” and such. Dopey inside and out (for Catholics), regardless of value (and it is likely that the overall cost is far too high).