I don't think that it happens too often that a church changes hands from one denomination to another, but the "Crystal Cathedral" in California isn't a run of the mill church. Built by the ministry of Robert Schuller, this iconic building had to be sold to pay off debts because his ministry has fallen on hard times (and I guess God didn't have spare cash to offer), so the local Catholic diocese is buying it.
Will they have to perform and exorcism first before moving in? No one is saying...
The 31-year-old glass structure, designed by architect Philip Johnson, was created by church founder Robert Schuller, who conducted services and broadcast his worldwide Hour of Power television program from there.
The cathedral fell into bankruptcy after more than four years of family and financial turmoil. The ministry is now led by Schuller's daughter Sheila Schuller Coleman.
Schuller, who started his mninistry in 1955 in an Orange drive-in theater, did not attend the bankruptcy hearing, but as a member of the church board voted in favor of selling it to the diocese.
In a letter to the court, the 85-year-old Schuller said he could not abide the thought that Chapman University, which had also tried to buy the 40-acre facility, might someday use the cathedral for nonreligious purposes, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Source: USA Today
The Catholic diocese is paying $57 million for the property... and I wonder how many children could be fed for that? Or how many lawsuits over children being raped could be paid off for that? I guess buying high-profile, glitzy property is much more important, at least in California. But perhaps I shouldn't judge because I'm just an immoral atheist, huh?
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