“Can a Protestant Worship Space Be Flipped to a Catholic Cathedral?”
An article by me published recently in Latin Mass Magazine, about Christ Cathedral, Fiat Lux, and what makes a Catholic work of art suitable for worship.
Republished by permission from the Summer 2024 issue of Latin Mass Magazine: The Journal of Catholic Culture.
I started thinking a lot about Christ Cathedral after I was assigned to write about a significant cultural event held there in the Summer of 2023. As you may know, the Diocese of Orange, California, was planning to build a new larger-capacity cathedral when the bankruptcy of the ministry of televangelist Rev. Robert Schuller forced the towering glass and steel building called the Crystal Cathedral on the market, along with several other similarly modernist buildings constructed by famous architects on a 32-acre campus in Garden Grove. The decision by the diocese to purchase and transform the Crystal Cathedral and to repurpose the other buildings—instead of building a new cathedral campus from the ground up—was controversial.
I was delighted to be asked to review the event, and I was also happy to have the opportunity to travel south to Orange County from where I live in San José and see the transformation for myself.
The sale was made on the condition the outside of the building would not be significantly altered, so I was eager to see the inside and assess for myself whether the building had been successfully converted into a fitting place for the celebration of the Eucharist and the other purposes of a Catholic cathedral.
I brought with me many opinions about how a Catholic Church should be designed, from studying the work of classical architect Duncan Stroik and other traditional architects and experts.
Stroik is a professor at Notre Dame University’s School of Architecture, founding editor of “Sacred Architecture Journal,” and author of an impressively persuasive book I once reviewed, The Church Building as a Sacred Place: Beauty, Transcendence, and the Eternal.
I’ve been pretty much convinced by Duncan Stroik and others that Catholic churches should speak the traditional language of Church architecture, or they run the risk of teaching worshippers a false faith.
In this article, after I examine what it means that architecture speaks a language, I discuss Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light), the oratorio whose performance on June 20 was the event that brought me to Christ Cathedral, and I ponder how the Catholic faith of its creators can help us understand what makes a creative work Catholic. Then I quote some criticisms of the conversion of Crystal Cathedral into the diocesan Cathedral.
In Part II, to be published in the Summer issue of this magazine, I weigh the opinions of others who see the conversion in a positive light. I’ll also give an overview of Reverend Schuller’s ministry as a preacher of a gospel of Possibility Thinking and its effects on the design of the buildings now part of the Christ Cathedral campus. Finally, I will summarize my reactions to both views based also on what I experienced there.
What is the Language of Architecture?
Philosophers and other thinkers have explored the nature of architecture to one degree or another since the time of Plato. Most writers agree architecture is expressive. For example. Kant emphasized architecture’s expressive capacity.
Writers about architecture use several metaphors. For example, Victor Hugo wrote that architecture is a language with which architects express themselves. A building’s form and decorations transmit meaning that is understood by viewers without using words. Part of the meaning is the architect’s intentions.
We can suggest for example, that modern architecture speaks the language of secular humanism, a language of atheism that exalts the creativity and originality of the architect.
A church building is often said to be a catechism, which implies that people learn from it.
In his book The Church Building as Sacred Place, Duncan Stroik writes this, “Even though as a medium it is abstract, architecture can articulate the truths of faith like its sister arts of music, painting and sculpture.”
From those premises, it is easy to understand this requirement expressed by Stroik: a church architect should be proficient in the history of Church architecture to understand and use the language of Catholic sacred architecture. One way the Notre Dame School of Architecture where he teaches facilitates that knowledge is to require its students to spend their third year in Rome in close study of the eternal city’s many inspiring examples.
If we agree that architecture is expressive, I think we have to answer this questions: What do we want the architecture of our churches to say? And, to the topic of this article, isn’t there a danger is that a modern building like Crystal Cathedral may actually confuse Catholics and teach a secular faith?
Another often-used metaphor is of a church as icon. Generally, the word iconic is used to refer to something that stands for something else. Notre-Dame de Paris is an icon of medieval Paris, built in honor of the Mother of God and for the worship of God in the liturgy of the Eucharist and the Divine Office. Similarly, the Eiffel Tower is an icon of modern Paris, a structure created originally for the 1889 Exposition Universelle to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The world’s tallest structure for forty years, its raison d’etre was to boast about the capabilities of French engineering.
In religious terms, icons are created prayerfully to portray sacred persons or events. The contemplation of icons draws the viewer into direct communication with what is being portrayed. A church may be then be said to be an icon that draws the viewer into communication with the sacred actions taking place within it and with God.
Like the painters (some say writers) of icons, shouldn’t Catholic Church architects be Catholics who prepare for the design of a church by prayer and fasting?
Along this line, Stroik writes in The Church Building as Sacred Place, “Designing a church can be likened to painting an icon, which is a spiritual act, done with prayer and fasting. The church building itself is not unlike a well-conceived sermon or a theological text, both of which must communicate the message entrusted by Christ to the most diverse group of people.”
Fiat Lux and Its Creators
The event I was asked to cover at Christ Cathedral was a long-delayed performance of the oratorio Fiat Lux, which was created by two noted Catholics, Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan and California-born-and-raised poet and cultural critic Dana Gioia. Fiat Lux is MacMillan’s setting of a five-part poem by Gioia. It was commissioned in honor of Christ Cathedral’s consecration, but the premiere of their collaboration was much delayed.
The formal dedication Mass for Christ Cathedral was held on July 17, 2019, and the premiere of Fiat Lux had originally been scheduled to follow in March 2020, but COVID-19 intervened.
As Gioia explained in an email exchange checking facts for one of several articles I wrote about the premiere, "The music was ready, but the orchestra and choir could not perform. . . . Rescheduling the composer, the symphony, and the chorus afterward became a huge problem.”
The work was finally performed four times in June, three times at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. On June 20, the oratorio was performed again, for the first time at the Christ Cathedral for which it had been commissioned. That was the performance I attended.
The creations of these two collaborators are far from exclusively religious, but their Catholic outlook is part of everything they do, and sometimes, as in the creation of Fiat Lux, their common faith comes to the fore.
In a National Catholic Register article titled, “California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia on the Poetry of Life,” Gioia explained his Catholic poetics by saying, “What Catholicism does is inform my work. Whether the poem is about an angel or an alleyway, my way of seeing the world (and sensing what lies beyond the visible world) is always Catholic.
“For me, Catholicism is not a subject matter; it is about how I understand my existence and lead my life, not just how I write.”
MacMillan’s Catholic faith is very poetically described in this question and answer from an interview Frank La Rocca, Benedict XVI Institute Composer in Residence, did with the Scottish composer.
La Rocca writes, “I read to Sir James a quote from something he once wrote:
“’Mary opens the door the very heart of God. And in the silence of my own contemplation, in that necessary stillness where all composers know that music mysteriously begins, the following words from our sacred Liturgy have lodged themselves in the womb of my soul, trapped in a scarlet room, gestating gently with a tiny pulse: Hail Mary, full of grace…’
“I asked Macmillan if his Catholicism was, in fact, as deeply Marian in its spirituality as this quote would imply:
“’I think so, yes. I mean this idea of inspiration, you know, the in-breathing – which is what inspiration means – and the power of the Spirit even to the extent of the Spirit being instrumental in the conception in the Incarnation of Christ, it was a living reality with Mary and her Son. . . . It’s the same in-breathing process, the inspiration, the breathing in of that divine essence and spirit that gives birth to our little incarnations, which can be pieces of music, works of art, so in that sense, being open to the Spirit, being open to being divinely inspired is a Marian concept, and an inspiration for all Catholics.’
“So, ‘Be it done unto me according to Thy Word,’ I asked?
“’That’s right,’ he said, as we ended the interview, ‘Which is the best prayer a composer can have as they start every day.’”
That Marian in-breathing of the Spirit that MacMillan describes as giving birth to pieces of music and works of art surely also applies to poetry. In the next section, we’ll look at the poem was the libretto for “Fiat Lux.”
About the Text of Fiat Lux
Dana Gioia’s poem Fiat Lux is in five parts.
You can view a program with the full text of Gioia’s libretto in the Pacific Symphony’s Performances Magazine. Here is an overview.
1. In the Beginning: The first part uses Latin words from Genesis that describe God’s creation of heaven and earth.
2. Chorus: In the second part, the chorus sings the words by which light was created, Fiat Lux /Et facta est lux (also in Latin).
3. Litany of Light: The third part is the poet’s “litany,” ending with the English words equivalent to the Latin words quoted in part 1.
4. Light of the World: The fourth part, in English, uses the words of Christ about how we are to be the light of the world, and glorify our father in heaven. The fifth part is specifically about Christ Cathedral.
5. Hymn: Cathedral of Light: This last section’s first verse speaks of the “cross and spire” that stand for the cathedral—which is built not only on the metaphorical rock of Christ but also on literal Orange County land that is less than solid and safe, a land of quake and fire, implying its construction was an act of faith. The structure is compared to glass (though it is literally made of glass) in its fragility, and to air in its brightness. The walls are seen,—not as they may be perceived as oddly projecting‑but charmingly, as folded in prayer. The final three verses speak of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice that is re-enacted in the rededicated building.
5. HYMN: CATHEDRAL OF LIGHT
(Hymn for the Rededication of the Crystal Cathedral as Christ Cathedral)
Upon this rock,
Our cross and spire
built in a land
of quake and fire.Fragile as glass,
bright as the air,
the angled walls
folded in prayer.Under the sun
of western skies,
we re-enact
the sacrifice.Bread of the earth,
fruit of the vine,
the tortured flesh
revealed divine.The ancient words
fill this new space,
redeeming us
with unearned grace.Rededicate
this crystal spire
built in a land
of quake and fire.
Quite clearly, this work could not have been created by a poet who was not a Catholic.
With the above in mind, we still need to answer this. Can an unbelieving architect create a church that speaks similarly eloquently about the Faith? Or can a church created by an unbeliever be converted to speak that way?
Critics of the Cathedral
I’d heard and read several witty uncomplimentary things about the Crystal Cathedral before and after it became Christ Cathedral.
As many have pointed out, the Crystal Cathedral was not Crystal (since its walls are glass in steel frames) and it was not a cathedral, because evangelicals don’t have bishops, and cathedrals are the seat of bishops.
Depending on your point of view, maybe it wasn’t a church either. As many articles pointed out, Crystal Cathedral was built as a backdrop for The Hour of Power television show and preaching and singing services of the denomination led by possibility preacher televangelist Robert H. Schuller. The focus of the services was on the pulpit and on the massive organ and stage for hundreds of musicians and singers that rose behind it. The focus was also on the novelty of the huge building that let the outside in, with 90 foot doors that opened to let the preacher address both the walk-in and a drive-in congregation in the parking lot, at the same time addressing millions who watched on TV.
The church was designed by the post-modern atheist openly gay architect Philip Johnson, as a kind of religious theatre. Johnson, who died in 2003, and whose name many are trying to cancel for his youthful support of Nazism and antisemitism in spite of his later change of heart. Johnson was not one of the praying and fasting types of architects Stroik envisions as suitable Catholic church architects.
I am not alone in describing Crystal Cathedral as less of a church and more of a performance venue. The words “theatre,” “star,” “showmanship,” and the like were commonly used about Reverend Schuller and his glass building, which one article referred to more accurately as the Glass Church.
For example, this comment in an article by Rick Rojas from the Los Angeles Times[1] is typical; it describes the Crystal Cathedral as a “structure that was built as a television studio as much as a sanctuary. . . .
“From that gleaming sanctuary, evangelist Robert Schuller delivered sermons that were beamed to televisions around the world. His ministry became synonymous with the megachurch, designed so the light and the breeze could stream through, a grand replica of his humble beginnings preaching on the roof of an Orange drive-in's snack shop.
“It had served for many years as the backdrop of The Hour of Power, which was once the most popular religious television program in the nation.”
One New York Times article speaks about The Hour of Power this way.
“The show’s star was the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who . . . referred to the 78,000-square-foot cathedral as a ‘shopping center for God.’”
In an odd episode, Crystal Cathedral was specifically written against in an article about the Vatican "crackdown" on structures that risk denaturing Catholic worship, but then it was approved anyway.
An article[2] titled “Cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes” in California Catholic Daily, November 22, 2011, reported,
“A team has been set up to put a stop to garage style churches, boldly shaped structures that risk denaturing modern places for Catholic worship.”
The article then quoted another article from La Stampa:
“Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Benedict XVI, consider this work as ‘very urgent. . . . Too often, architects, even the more famous ones, do not use the Catholic liturgy as a starting point and thus end up producing avant-garde constructions that look like anything but a church. These buildings composed of cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes and confused spaces, remind people of anything but the mystery and sacredness of a church.. . .’
“’The new commission’s regulations will be written up over the next few days and will give precise instructions to dioceses.’
“Prominently displayed at the top left of the story was a photo of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, with the caption: ‘California—The controversial “Crystal Cathedral,” which has just been purchased by the Diocese of Orange.’”
Then in a strange turn of events, another unnamed Vatican department approved the purchase a mere two weeks after the previous articles about the so-called Vatican crackdown. Subsequent news reports made much of the inconsistency, apparently thinking of the Vatican as a monolithic organization. But, obviously, the approval process had long been in the works and with a totally different department, and the planned purchase was not submitted to the new commission, which had scarcely been formed. Also, the office that approved the plan seems to have been assessing only the rationale and financing for the purchase and not addressing the architecture at all.
I cannot find any mention of the commission mentioned anywhere online since then. So it may never have gotten off the ground. In the case of Christ Cathedral, obviously the right hand of the Vatican bureaucracy did not know what the left hand was doing.
In Part II, I look more at the various ways that the in-breathing of the Spirit and inspirations of other sorts affect architecture, and I suggest some conclusions about the success of Crystal Cathedral’s transformation to the Catholic Christ Cathedral.
[1] Rojas, Rick. “Onetime Crystal Cathedral is in transition to a Roman Catholic site.” From the Los Angeles Times, September 22, 2013. Updated Jan 31, 2020. Reprinted in the Bend [Oregon] Bulletin. Retrieved February 2, 2024 from https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/onetime-crystal-cathedral-is-in-transition-to-a-roman-catholic-site/article_83a8f8b0-b4c6-56e5-9f92-03b7ae08f480.html.
[2] "Cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes.” California Catholic Daily. November 22, 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2024 from https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002010/http:/calcatholic.web141.discountasp.net/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=281e0014-72d0-4e5e-adc9-48c6ab96404b archived from the original http://calcatholic.web141.discountasp.net/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=281e0014-72d0-4e5e-adc9-48c6ab96404b on December 2, 2013.