Comment from Understand the Times:

The demise of the Peter Drucker mega church program may be underway. Crystal Cathedral may be the first example of what will happen as the Roman Catholic Church may buy these bankrupt businesses that were once called churches.

Anther possibility would be for Muslims to buy the Crystal Cathedral and erect a mosque, or Rick Warren to make the property into a Purpose Driven P.E.A.C.E. Plan center. This is of course just speculation.

A friend of mine had a dream that one popular mega church in Orange County folded unexpectedly. He saw weeds growing in the parking lot because the mega church had collapsed. This occurred because things that had been covered up for years were finally revealed.

Whatever the case, these corporate collapses are opportunities for the Roman Catholic Church to expand and get more property for only pennies on the dollar. The counter-reformation still continues, doesn't it?

July 7 - Diocese of Orange may make bid for Crystal Cathedral

Article: Misc.

A new and intriguing prospect for the Crystal Cathedral emerged Wednesday when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange said it was considering buying the bankrupt church in Garden Grove and converting it to a Catholic cathedral.

The announcement by Orange Bishop Tod Brown came one day after Chapman University made a $46-million bid for the 40-acre site. The Crystal Cathedral had earlier reached a tentative agreement for a sale and lease-back deal with a real estate developer, subject to approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kwan.

A sale to the Catholic Church would solve a longstanding problem for the Orange Diocese, which has no central cathedral for its 1.2-million parishioners. It has been planning for more than a decade to build a new, 2,500-seat cathedral in Santa Ana, but has gotten only as far as hiring an architect.

The Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy in October citing more than $50 million in debt. Documents related to the case have revealed generous payouts and tax allowances for church insiders and Schuller family members.

A sale to the diocese would be rich with symbolism. Schuller built the Crystal Cathedral as the physical expression of a Space Age ministry that eschewed orthodoxy in favor of a casual worship style and the self-help spirit of "possibility thinking." It stood in sharp contrast to the sort of dogma and ritual practiced by the Catholic Church.

Brown said his diocese is merely exploring the possibility of a deal and has not decided whether to make a bid. The bishop asked a law firm and lay advisors to look into the matter. "While we continue to develop plans for a cathedral in Santa Ana, it is prudent to evaluate the opportunity to engage in the pending auction of this property and to mitigate the chance that it cease to function as a place of worship, if acquired by others," Brown said.

Numerous groups have been sending out feelers about buying the Crystal Cathedral property, according to the ministry's bankruptcy lawyer, Marc Winthrop. Regarding the Catholic diocese, he would only say: "We might be interested.... If something formal is presented, the church will respond."