Posted on 09/02/2002 3:49:14 PM PDT by NYer
This isn't the way it was supposed to be. To be sure, the weeklong celebration marking Labor Day's official opening of the lavish Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral on Bunker Hill downtown will be spectacular. For a moment, at least, Los Angeles -- home to the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, with its 3.6 million adherents -- will claim center stage of the Christian world. It isn't often that cathedrals are built, least of all one as elaborate and expensive as this one, which bears an "official" $193 million price tag that is almost certainly well below its actual cost. As befits such a significant ecclesiastical event, no fewer than five dozen bishops, archbishops and cardinals are to be on hand for the Mass of Dedication slated for September 2.
But, ironically, it is the man upon whom all eyes will be focused -- and without whom the cathedral would have never been built -- whose unrivaled role ensures that the historic week will be, at best, bittersweet. This was to have been Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's shining hour. Having wheeled and dealed to raise untold millions of dollars to build an edifice supporters praise as a symbol of his legacy and critics deride as a monument to his ego, the cardinal might once have expected to merely bask in the glow of his achievement. Instead, the man once touted as having a shot at becoming the first American pope is under siege. Despite attempts at reconstructive surgery from Sitrick & Co., Enron Corporation's former public relations firm, whose pricey consultants are advising him, Mahony's image is in tatters from having presided over a sex-abuse scandal involving clergy in his realm that has come to rival -- if not surpass -- that of the much-maligned Boston Archdiocese.
On Labor Day, as he stands surrounded by a host of prelates, dignitaries and other specially invited guests within the 58,000-square-foot building already widely referred to as Taj Mahony (this is not to mention the throngs of protesters and others expected to gather outside), His Eminence will reign with the knowledge that at least 72 of his current and former priests are under criminal investigation. Amazingly, they include several from within the cardinal's longtime inner circle, including Father Carl Sutphin, whom Mahony in March 2001 elevated to the prestigious role of associate pastor of Our Lady of the Angels despite having known for years that he was an accused child molester. (Sutphin was among seven clerics Mahony abruptly tossed overboard in February and March of this year after it became clear that his harboring of pedo-priests would face public scrutiny.)
In June, after months of resisting District Attorney Steve Cooley's demands, Mahony was forced by the L.A. County Grand Jury to surrender records related to 17 of his accused clerics. High law enforecement sources say authorities will begin arresting these priests on criminal charges in the next few weeks. And as first reported by New Times, the district attorney has pointedly refused to rule out the possibility that the cardinal himself could become the target of a criminal probe. On the civil front, the archdiocese faces a class-action lawsuit involving as many as four dozen sex-abuse victims in just one parish in Oxnard. Plus, a trickle of individual lawsuits is widely expected to become a torrent next year as the result of a landmark California law signed in June by Governor Gray Davis. The law, which passed without a single vote of opposition in the Legislature, gives any alleged priestly sex-abuse victim a one-year window of opportunity to sue the church, starting January 1 -- regardless of whether previous legal time limits for doing so have expired. Legal experts and others acknowledge that the law could have enormous financial consequences for dioceses throughout California, especially the scandal-plagued L.A. Archdiocese.
(Excerpt) Read more at newtimesla.com ...
Did anyone catch the televized dedication? The only snippit of information on our local news, mentioned that the cathedral contains a gift shop, restaurant and conference center.
Would LOVE to know which bishops were in attendance. Did they show the protesters, expected to also be in attendance?
First, God works in mysterious ways, sometimes.
Second, it makes me sick that a bishop of the Catholic Church needs a PR firm to help his image. Mahony apparently sees himself as a CEO and not a shepherd of the faithful.
Third, it absolutely make me sick Mahony spend over 200M for the "Cathedral" and how many million to hire a PR firm when there are poor people in his district who could use help with health insurance, groceries, rent or maybe tuition for a nice Catholic school so they can get their kids out of the ghetto.
I fear for his immortal soul.
Probably headed to the nearest Pentecostal church. Or maybe to the Testigos de Jehová.
Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral was dedicated during a three-hour service that incorporated the many ethnic backgrounds of the community's faithful, from Vietnamese singing to African drumming to children in traditional Mexican dress.
Sounds like opening ceremonies at the Olympics.
Pope John Paul II sent a message that was read during the ceremony, saying the cathedral represents the diversity of Los Angeles.
What else could he say?
Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo, whose style is noted for combining classic architectural themes with modern designs, built the towering, 11-story cathedral with asymmetrical design and lack of right angles.
While its sandstone-colored walls evoke visions of California's 18th century Spanish missions, some critics have compared the cathedral's austere, modernistic look to a prison.
I was searching for the right words. I think that comes close.
The stock market decline also has taken a deep bite out of the archdiocese's budget, forcing cuts for ministry and education by as much as 30 percent and a scaling back of the opening celebrations
Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese, said the cathedral was mainly funded through private donations and "not one dime" was taken from church social service programs.
Call me cynical..........
Money raised from a 6,000-space mausoleum, built beneath the cathedral, along with a gift shop, restaurant, conference center and a 600-car parking garage are expected to help cover ongoing expenses
Disneyland?
Built on a hill overlooking the traffic-choked Hollywood Freeway
Scenic too.
"Cardinal Roger M. Mahony officiates at the dedication of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. Three thousand invited guests were on hand for the ceremony."
EODGUY used the word "warehouse" to describe the cathedral. Those lighting fixtures certainly look like something out of a warehouse.
"Knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door" ... who is the caped figure on the left door? Batman? Zoro?
Ahhhh, this one is my personal favorite! Barefoot nuns on bended knee. Wonder what special grace Mahony promised in return for this "tableau"
... the splayed toes of Christ. The artist must not have read 'The Resurrection of The Shroud'. It would be physically impossible for a person impaled on a cross to open their toes in that manner.
Any kneelers behind those pews????????
Check out this review:
Becky
Becky, these are good questions. The bishop makes the decisions in accordance with The General Instruction of the Roman Missal . The GIRM details the guidlines that must be met when constructing a new church (or cathedral) or renovating an existing one. Here are just a portion of those guidelines:
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
The details can be found here: GENERAL PLAN OF THE CHURCH .
If you take the time to read through these, you will discover that they are intentionally subjective in nature. What constitutes a "fitting place of worship" in one country might be viewed quite differently by another. Culture plays a large part in this as well.
Essentially, what we are saying, as american catholics on this thread, is that we don't particularly like this cardinal's choice of ANYTHING. It does, however, conform with the principles stated in the GIRM, whether or not we like it.
What and where does the protestant church go for a guideline? You have the Crystal Cathedral on the high end and my local Baptist church on the other.
How...grotesque. A new low.
Barefoot nuns, eh? What on earth are they doing? This looks like it could be a torch lighting ceremony for the Olympics. This is New Age-iconoclastic-minimalist-flaky Novus Ordo Silliensis gone wrong. I feel sincerely sorry for any fellow Catholics stuck in LA at the moment. Mahony deserves a good spanking, but the way things are going these days, he might like that. God help us! Deliver us from ultra-neo-modernist New Age high weirdness in the sanctuary.
Shuddering in their hovels, is my guess. Someone posted an apt comment yesterday. In looking at that vast and immense expanse of travertine marble with its monochomatic color scheme, it is difficult ... no impossible, to imagine some poverty stricken Latino, walking in there to light a candle, kneel down and say a prayer to the Madonna. No candles, no kneelers, no statues ... simply those Birkenstock clad images of ?unknown? saints on tapestries that line the walls of this edifice.
How do you say... "homey don't wanna play this game no mo" ---- I can't take looking at or reading about Cardinal Mahony much longer.
Don't think he hasn't formulated this idea for the future? Truthfully, can you envision the average "Joe Bloe" walking in here to say a simple prayer? Mahony has totally misjudged his audience! Hollywood moguls are not church goers. He needs their money in the coffers to keep his palace running. This is what he will be facing down the line.
Christ driving the money changers out of the Temple.
Actually, Alan Parsons Project's "Cirius" comes to mind.
Wouldn't surprise me to learn that Roger would rent space to Freemasons. You think those little cars and motorcycles would leave skid marks? Wouldn't surprise me if he allows the adult entertainment industry or NAMBLA to hold a convention there either.
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