The $135.5 Million Catholic Church Cares More About Its Stature Than The Poor

A Catholic cathedral in Garden Grove, California, now named as Christ Cathedral had undergone a $77 million renovation.  This building was previously owned by televangelist Rev. Robert H. Schuller who named it the Crystal Cathedral "with a facade made up of nearly 11,000 glass panes." [1]

"[W]hen Schuller's Crystal Cathedral went bankrupt in 2010 the diocese [of Orange] instead opted to buy the sprawling campus in Garden Grove for $57.5 million. In addition to the cathedral, the campus has a school, cemetery and offices surrounded by scenic gardens and water features." [2]

Adding the cost of the property of $57.5 million to the $77 million renovation, the total comes out to $134.5 million.  For this amount of money, here is what the article also reported [3]:

“Our hope is that through the beauty of this place people will be drawn closer to the divine,” said Father Christopher Smith, episcopal vicar and rector of Christ Cathedral. “Every time people have walked in here since we’ve opened it up to people to see it, that is exactly what’s happened.”

Really?  Does that mean if one prays in Gethsemane on one's knees in the dirt without a roof, one will not be drawn as close to "the divine"?  But that was exactly what Jesus did Who is Divinity Himself!

Christopher Smith is a priest and what came out of his mouth was nonsense.  Being able to experience the Divine is a gift from God.  It can happen at any time, anywhere.  One does not need to enter a multimillion cathedral to have such an experience.  It is obvious that Christopher Smith never received such a gift or he would not have spewed such nonsense.

It is spiritual poverty not ostentatious display of wealth that connects one's soul to the Divine.  Sadly, in this world of Satanic materialism, many people and clerics no longer have the clarity to distinguish between what is truly holy and what is mere pretension.

Can a balance be struck between spending money on a large expensive cathedral and setting aside less than half of it, say $50 million, to help those who are in desperate need for food, shelter, medical treatments and medications around the world but cannot afford them?  The Church sure preaches the need to serve the poor it but sets a different example here.  What the diocese in Orange is saying is if you have the money, first spend it on acquisition of and improvements upon real property before even thinking about those who are poor and in need.  Let them suffer and die first.  It is more important to have a large multimillion cathedral.  As for the individual, it is more important to have a large mansion so that when one walks into one's spacious home that is filled with light, one can be "drawn closer to the divine" than walking into a shabby hut without even one glass window, not unlike the stable where Christ was born.


[1] https://www.apnews.com/552b9ebb27a94635b6064fe788726992
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.