Origin of congregation Robert H. Schuller and his wife Arvella Schuller founded the Garden Grove Community Church in 1955. A member of the Protestant
Reformed Church in America, the congregation first held services at the Orange Drive-In Theatre in
Orange, California. The congregants would sit in their cars while Robert Schuller delivered his
sermon from the top of the concession stand. He also rented a 300-seat former Baptist church in a different location for those who wanted inside seating. To accommodate the growth of their congregation, in 1958 the Schullers bought 10 acres in Garden Grove for a larger combination drive-in/sit-in church. Designed by architect
Richard Neutra, the new church opened in 1961. In 1968, the Schullers opened the 13-story Tower of Hope building on the campus for classrooms and office space. It was topped with a large illuminated cross. The rapid growth of the congregation soon outstripped the capacity of their current church. Schuller then commissioned
Philip Johnson and
John Burgee to design a church with a seating capacity of 2,248 worshipers on the Garden Grove campus.
Construction of the Crystal Cathedral The congregation began construction of the Crystal Cathedral in 1977; it was completed in 1980 at a cost of $18 million . It was 415 feet long by 215 feet wide, with a height of 128 feet. It was topped by a beacon for aircraft. The architects designed the church to withstand a magnitude 8.0
earthquake. The 10,000 rectangular panes of glass on the building were reflective on the outside and transparent on the inside. They were attached to the framework with a
silicone-based glue to mitigate earthquake damage. No crystal glass was used in its construction. The building featured a 52-bell
carillon. It also had an underground chapel with a revolving crystal cross. After moving into the new sanctuary in 1981, the congregation changed its name to Crystal Ministries. The $5.5 million stainless steel prayer spire was constructed in 1991. The Crystal Cathedral became the new venue for Robert Schuller's
Hour of Power television broadcasts on Sunday mornings. These broadcasts regularly reached a worldwide audience of 20 million viewers. In a 2011
Los Angeles Times article, Bishop
Tod Brown mentioned that, over the years, foreign priests visiting the Diocese of Orange invariably asked to visit the Crystal Cathedral.
Bankruptcy and sale By early 2010, Crystal Cathedral Ministries was in deep financial trouble due to high costs and reduced contributions resulting from the
Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. It was facing multiple lawsuits from unpaid creditors, with one board member estimating that they were $55 million in debt. It was also facing a contentious transition from the leadership of Robert and Avella Schueller. The ministries' board filed for bankruptcy protection on October 18, 2010, citing $43 million in debt, including a $36 million mortgage. Ministries officials tried to negotiate a payment plan with their creditors. However, after receiving several lawsuits and
writs of attachment, the Crystal Cathedral Ministries was forced to file for bankruptcy. After the filing, the ministries received offers for the Crystal Cathedral campus from a real estate investment group and
Chapman University in Orange. Chapman offered $59 million for the campus, planning to use it for health sciences studies and possibly a medical school. On July 7, 2011, the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange announced that it was "potentially interested" in purchasing the Crystal Cathedral campus. The diocese had purchased land in
Santa Ana to build a new cathedral (having outgrown the
Holy Family Cathedral in Orange), but found that it would be more cost-effective to renovate and repurpose the Crystal Cathedral campus and its buildings instead, and that Garden Grove was a more accessible location within the diocese than Santa Ana. Sheila Colman, the new director of the ministries, accepted this offer. The ministries' board originally planned to accept the higher offer from Chapman, but expressed a desire for the property to remain a religious institution. Days after the sale was approved, the Italian newspaper
La Stampa published a report that
Pope Benedict XVI was forming a new
Vatican commission to investigate irregularly designed churches and cathedrals that "remind people of anything but the mystery and sacredness of a church", such as designs with "glass boxes" and "crazy shapes"; the article was illustrated with a photograph of the Crystal Cathedral. Ultimately, this did not prove to be an issue; two weeks after the sale was approved, Bishop Brown secured approval from the Vatican to transfer the diocese to the campus.
Transition to Christ Cathedral The Crystal Cathedral sale was finalized on February 3, 2012. The diocese then transferred the St. Callistus parish to the old Garden Grove church on the Cathedral campus, renaming it Christ Cathedral Parish. The campus
cemetery was immediately transferred to the diocese, which quickly moved its offices into the other campus buildings. On June 9, 2012, the diocese announced that the building would be renamed "Christ Cathedral", with the Reverend Christopher Smith serving as its first rector and episcopal vicar. The name was chosen with input from the diocese and its members, and approved by the Vatican. In October 2012, before the property transfer, the diocese held its first event at the cathedral, the 7th Orange County Catholic Prayer Breakfast The Christ Cathedral Parish would continue until June 2013 to celebrate Masses and other liturgies at the old Garden Grove church, now known as the Arboretum. Crystal Cathedral Ministries held its final worship service at the Crystal Cathedral on June 30, 2013. They held their next service at the former St. Callistus Church on July 7, 2013. The congregation, now much reduced, moved in 2018 to another facility, which it named
Shepherd's Grove, in
Irvine, California. The St. Callistus Catholic School moved into the former Crystal Cathedral Academy facility, changing its name to Christ Cathedral Academy, in September 2013. Robert Schuller died in 2015; his funeral service was conducted outside the cathedral. Los Angeles-based design firm Johnson Fain was hired as architect, and the Irvine-based Snyder Langston served as
general contractor. The diocese unveiled renderings of Christ Cathedral in September 2014; the renovations aimed to make it suitable for the Catholic
liturgy (including the construction of a sanctuary,
ciborium, and
altar) while preserving the structure's architectural qualities. The cathedral's glass walls had created long-standing issues with heat, glare, and
acoustics; the Diocese of Orange's vice president of philanthropy Tony Jennison noted that "you could see people fanning themselves and even wearing sunglasses on
Hour of Power". To alleviate these issues, the glass walls were lined with angled
quatrefoils—referred to as "petals"—to deflect heat and create shade. Lights would also be installed on the petals to illuminate the building and its exterior at night, creating an effect described as a "box of stars" that can be seen from afar. Along with the change in liturgy, the cathedral underwent
seismic retrofitting, its glass doors were replaced with bronze doors, and
air conditioning was installed in the Arboretum. On the campus,
crape myrtle trees were planted along the path from the parking lot to the cathedral plazas; they were described as symbolizing the "beginning" of holiness as parishioners walk towards the altar, and by principal architect Frank Clementi as being akin to a "sacred
heat map". Catholic broadcaster
EWTN leased a floor of the campus's Tower of Hope to construct a west coast studio. Construction began in June 2017, with the diocese expecting the renovations to be completed by late-2018. To fund the renovations, the diocese first allocated $59 million in proceeds from its 2011 "For Christ Forever" fundraising campaign. In 2014, an anonymous benefactor contributed $20 million in additional funding.
Rededication and reopening On June 29, 2018, Bishop of Orange
Kevin Vann proclaimed a "holy year of preparation" ahead of the solemn dedication of the cathedral. On October 13, 2018, the quatrefoils were blessed and officially illuminated for the first time. A formal celebration event and concert by the
Pacific Symphony was held at the cathedral on July 13, 2019. On July 17, 2019, the diocese held a Mass to formally rededicate the building as Christ Cathedral. The diocese opened the shrine of
Our Lady of La Vang on the cathedral campus in 2021. The shrine includes a statue of the
Virgin Mary capped by a spiraling canopy. The St. Callistus Chapel and Crypts—situated in the building's basement—was completed in October 2024 and dedicated by Bishop Vann on October 14, 2024; this event marked the formal completion of the Christ Cathedral renovation project. ==Organ==