Los Angeles Cathedral
I thought I'd repost this little ditty that I have originally placed in a comment box on Mr. Serafin's Blog. This is a beginning, as I have a lot of disparate thoughts about this building, and I will subject you to them as I work them out.
I don't know if I like this as a Cathedral. Looks like Mies van der Rhoe or Le Corbusier got dumped in a blender and poured out. Not at all fond of modernist designs. On the other hand, it is not the building that makes the faithful. True, a good building can help to build a proper atmosphere for worship, but worship can occur in a grass hut if the faithful are focused appropriately.
I think we do a disservice to those who will be using the Cathedral to shed so much verbiage abusing the building. If it is not to our taste, that is as may be; however, it is not blasphemy, nor sacrilege. It may not be constructed according to Church Rubrics, I can't speak to that. And I don't know how I would feel participating in a liturgy within that cavernous interior. But still, I haven't been there and God is present in the gathering of the people, in the reading of the Word, and in the real presence of the Eucharist--this is true in a tar-paper shack or in a marble palace.
God bless Cardinal Mahony and the people of Los Angeles in their new Cathedral. May it be a place of Real Presence and an opportunity for evangelism. May it stand as a Rock in the center of a city that needs a foundation. May God bless the architect and all the people who are privileged to gather in the place. And may this Cathedral be a true beacon on a Hill, calling to the faithful and unfaithful alike, reminding them of the presence of God.
