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The US Catholic diocese of Orange will pay $57.5 million to use the iconic glimmering 10,000 paned glass Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove as its new Cathedral.
“It will become a true center for our Catholic community in Orange County,” Bishop Tod Brown told reporters after Thursday’s verdict.
The decision by US Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kwan, came after a bidding war developed for the 40 acre property between the diocese and Orange County’s Chapman University.
The sale of the property will help the financially troubled megachurch emerge from bankruptcy.
For the last two weeks, the board of directors of Crystal Cathedral Ministries had supported Chapman as the preferred buyer. But the board did an about-face Wednesday and voted to back the diocese instead to preserve the church as a religious institution, citing church bylaws and a wish to respect the spirit of donors who footed the bill for the building.
“I’m really pleased to know that this campus is likely for at least decades, if not centuries, to be kept as a sacred place of worship,” Carol Milner, daughter of church founder Rev. Robert H. Schuller, said after the hearing.
Schuller started the Crystal Cathedral as a drive-in church in the 1950’s under the auspices of the Reformed Church in America. Decades later, the Southern California ministry evolved into an international televangelism empire and erected its now-famous building.
In 2008, the church’s revenues plummeted amid a decline in donations and ticket sales for holiday pageants due to the recession, church officials said. But some experts say the church failed to attract younger members while alienating older churchgoers with an ill-fated attempt to turn the church over to Schuller’s son, ending in a bitter and public family feud.
The church laid off employees and cut salaries, but its debts surpassed $43 million, prompting the Crystal Cathedral to declare bankruptcy last year.
Chapman University said the ruling wouldn’t alter its plan to expand its course offerings.
“I’m disappointed, obviously,” university president James Doti told reporters after the ruling. “We did the best fight that we could.”
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News category: World.
