The Cardinal's Superdome

The American Prowler ^ | September 3, 2002 | George Neumayr

[NYer]

Missing from the endless line of church officials at Cardinal Roger Mahony's cathedral grand opening on Monday was one of its first associate pastors, Fr. Carl Sutphin. An accused molester, Sutphin held the title of associate pastor at the new "Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels" until Mahony cut him loose in the wake of the Boston church scandals.

Mahony knew of Sutphin's checkered clerical career for at least a decade. That troubled Mahony so much he gave him lodging at the new cathedral's apartments and appointed him associate pastor of the church. (Before that, Sutphin resided at the cardinal's previous apartments.)

Sitrick and Co., the cardinal's public relations firm which has counted Enron as one of his clients, wasn't yet on the scene. So Mahony can surely be forgiven that novel ecclesiastical appointment.

Last Friday, Mahony's troubles seemed far behind him as he practiced his homily for the grand opening with the aid of a TelePrompTer, reports the Los Angeles Times. Sitrick and Co. apparently thinks of everything.

It is too bad Sitrick and Co. can't also offer Mahony tutelage in the Catholic faith. Were Mahony's predecessors alive to see the grand opening of the cathedral, they would have wondered what new Protestant sect had arrived in La-La land.

The cathedral looks like a superdome for syncretism. Partially seen from Highway 101, the cathedral presents no obvious evidence of Catholicism. Drivers will assume it is a modern art museum, or perhaps an assembly hall for amorphous religious gatherings.

San Francisco has an equally confusing cathedral. It looks like a modern appliance. But at least people find it accessible. Not so with Mahony's new cathedral. "It is hard to get to," says Architect Frank Gehry.

But Mahony hopes to correct this little problem by asking taxpayers to build a new highway ramp. That should cost around $25 million.

The cathedral does, however, offer validation at its paid parking garage for mass goers. For others, parking will cost $2.50 for the first 25 minutes.

Mahony has to pay off his $200-million architectural experiment somehow. It turns out the archdiocese is in financial trouble. A hiring freeze is in place, and some church employees now worry about lay-offs. Mahony largely chalks up the archdiocese's woes to an anemic stock market. But his curious expenditures and doling out of hush money and cash settlements to sex abuse victims explain it as well.

Ever resourceful, Mahony has been generating cash by selling off crypts and burial sites at the new cathedral to the Richard Riordans and Rupert Murdochs of Los Angeles.

Why was this cathedral even necessary? ask many Catholics on both the right and the left. Mahony gave as one of his main reasons that the old cathedral wasn't safe. It had to go, he said, and assigned a wrecking crew to tear it town. But secular preservationists stopped him.

Mahony's real reason for establishing a new cathedral is that he is practicing a new religion. Whatever it is, it is not Catholicism. Eli Broad, a non-Catholic developer and Democratic Party godfather who helped finance the cathedral , calls it "architecture for the ages." Many Catholics, when they look up at the tapestries on the walls depicting people in sneakers and birkenstocks, will wonder if it can last even a generation as a Catholic building.

Not far from the fakery of Hollywood, appropriately enough, the cathedral represents faux Catholicism -- the very phony Catholicism that made it possible for the cardinal of the largest archdiocese in the country to make a molester one of its first associate pastors.

[BlackElk]

It certainly won't last a generation as a Catholic building unless it becomes one at some point. Maybe, if the scandals bankrupt the LA Archdiocese, maybe the US Bankruptcy judge can persuade some maroon of a creditor to take it away.

[Snuffington]

It certainly won't last a generation as a Catholic building unless it becomes one at some point.

My sentiments exactly.

[american colleen]

AC, do you mean Desde's use of the term "facility"?

Depends on whose asking... ;-)

[american colleen]

whose = who's

oh my.

[ultima ratio]

It's not a total disaster. They can still use it to house the space shuttle.

[Salvation]

Why they are barfoot I can not answer, but the picture looks to me like they are incensing the altar. This is often done at Easter and Christmas. But usually by the priest with altar boys and the MC along with him.

[Salvation]

Take a closer look at that picture.

There are kneelers. Do you see the different color and then a dark line down the pew where the next kneeler starts? It's the space between the kneelers in the two sections.

[Antoninus]

You know, I think a future Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles could really do something with this monstrosity. First, wall off about 2/3 of it and use the space as a homeless shelter/soup kitchen/orphanage/hospital. Second, de-wreckovate the "worship area" to have an identifiable nave, apse, choir loft, etc. Honestly, it's so big, a future Cardinal with some serious creativity could build a real functional cathedral inside this thing.

[sitetest]

Dear Antoninus,

Okay for the interior.

But what about the outside?

sitetest

[Palladin]

This monstrous building is so cold, stark, and dead. Just like Roger Mahony's faith.

[heyheyhey]

money spent on a building dedicated to the One who had nowhere to lay is head is scandalous, to me

Sinky, would you recommend a sleeping bag instead?

[Sock]

In looking at the picture a little more carefully, they seem to be wearing flesh colored booties. It probably provides better traction and insulation from those cold marble floors.

[ultima ratio]

Interesting how Mahoney used disinformation to get his monstrosity built. He told the faithful it would "cost too much" to repair St. Vibiana's--$50 million. Then he raises $200 million for his brand new airport hanger--er--cathedral. Anybody wonder where the body of St. Vibiana--a gift for the Los Angelos faithful a hundred years ago by Pius IX--now reposes? It was unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked hole in the ground--no ceremony, no marker, no nothing. So much for the veneration of the saints--a custom of the old religion. This new showplace is dedicated to the spirit of Vatican II. Hmmmmmmm.....

[sinkspur]

Sinky, would you recommend a sleeping bag instead?

No. But a Church with the price of a sports stadium is a bit much, don't you think?

[heyheyhey]

"Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.

Sounds familiar?

[sinkspur]

Ah, yes. The Magdalen quote.

Well, it's one thing to pour perfume. Quite another to spend the Gross National Product of a small country on a building, don't you think?

Of course, if it's going to be done, better that it come from a Rupert Murdoch, than from the widow's mite.

[sitetest]

Dear ultima,

"Anybody wonder where the body of St. Vibiana--a gift for the Los Angelos faithful a hundred years ago by Pius IX--now reposes? It was unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked hole in the ground--no ceremony, no marker, no nothing. So much for the veneration of the saints--a custom of the old religion."

Hmmm...

That seems to be at odds with what I found here, at the official website of the Cathedral Chapel of St. Vibiana:

http://www.cathedralchapel.org/frontpageinfo/history.htm

From this website:

"Her remains were secured in the downtown Cathedral which bears her name until they were recently carefully removed for safekeeping until the new Cathedral is finished. Though the new Cathedral will be named Our Lady Queen of the Angels for Mary, a special Chapel will built in St. Vibiana’s name."

It appears that her remains have been moved from the old cathedral to be moved ultimately to a new chapel for her in the new cathedral.

That wasn't quite communicated in your post, ultima.



sitetest

[RobbyS]

Usually the money goes into a presidential palance/his Swiss bank account.

[heyheyhey]

See 2 Samuel 7:2

[Land of the Irish]

Anybody wonder where the body of St. Vibiana--a gift for the Los Angelos faithful a hundred years ago by Pius IX--now reposes? It was unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked hole in the ground--no ceremony, no marker, no nothing. So much for the veneration of the saints--a custom of the old religion.

I pray that Providence will spare the remains of St. Vibiana from being reinterred within the false cathedral of a false bishop who has sold crypts to such outstanding Catholics as Rubert Murdoch and Richard Riordan.