Orange County’s Roman Catholic Diocese won the right to buy the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral this week for a price of $57.5 million.
The bidding war over the facility came after months of speculation and negotiations. The bidding actually managed to reach $59 million from Chapman University however the Crystal Cathedral board preferred the diocese.
Protestant founder Robert Schuller in an open letter to the court system said the university would use the cathedral in the future for nonreligious purposes, a likely reason that the Universities bid was denied.
Speaking to various volunteers at the church the Los Angeles Times heard a common theme that they were “devastated” and felt “thrown under the bus” by the churches decision to sell the building.
The diocese will allow the church to lease core buildings for 3 years at which point they will then be turned over to the Orange County’s Roman Catholic Diocese.
If the congregations leaders would have accepted the bid from Chapman University they could have leased those same facilities for up to 20 years.
Do you think the Crystal Cathedral leaders made the right choice in accepting the more constraint driven option they had on the table?
