Sign Up for Our Newsletter!


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

EPISODE #30
SOUNDS FROM THE SANCTUARY: CLASSIC PERFORMANCES ON THE HAZEL WRIGHT ORGAN

Episode No. 30: Classic Performances on the Hazel Wright Organ

HAZEL IS BACK! Cathedral Organist David Ball shares his personal favorite recordings of the Hazel Wright Organ from Hour of Power archives from the Crystal Cathedral era. Listen to performances of organ legends –  including Fred Swann, Madame Duruflé, Mark Thallander, and of course, Virgil Fox who designed the organ – from their appearances on the Hour of Power. Broadcast originally to millions of viewers and now available on Youtube, these historic performances inspired generations of worshipers, classical music enthusiasts, and organists. Find out more at https://www.christcathedralmusic.org and find out how to experience the newly-restored Hazel Wright Organ in-person at the Year of Hazel dedication events or wherever you listen to music on two new albums released on Gothic Records available online for streaming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 9/24/22

EPISODE #28
SOUNDS FROM THE SANCTUARY: BLESSING OF THE RESTORED HAZEL WRIGHT ORGAN

Episode No. 28: Blessing of the Restored Hazel Wright Organ

In this episode of Sounds from the Sanctuary, host David Ball (Cathedral Organist and Music Ministry Director) visits with Dr. Emma Whitten (Associate Organist @ Christ Cathedral) and Kevin Cartwright (Curator for the Hazel Wright Organ). They talk about an evening for the ages that took place in late June inside Christ Cathedral. It was the official blessing of the restored Hazel Wright Organ. In fact, Pope Francis himself issued a special ‘Papal Blessing” in the form of a note to Bishop Kevin Vann. It was read aloud to all in the congregation that evening.

The balance of the show will feature some words and organ playing of one Josep Sole Coll. Josep is the Principal Organist of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter’s in the Vatican and Organist for Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.

Enjoy and SHARE this amazing podcast!

 

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 7/9/22

EPISODE#72
CATHEDRAL SQUARE: A VISIT WITH THE ARCHIVIST FOR THE DIOCESE OF ORANGE – FR CHRIS HEATH

Welcome to another episode of Cathedral Square featuring host, Fr. Christopher Smith.

The Diocese of Orange has amassed quite a collection of archives since its inception in 1976. Fr. Chris Heath grew up in this diocese; and he knows the history of our vast OC landscape very well. Listen as host Fr. Christopher and Fr. Chris engage in a fascinating discussion about the role that archives play and how it ultimately impacts our faith. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend!

 

 

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 5/28/22

EPISODE #26
SOUNDS FROM THE SANCTUARY: SPRING 2022 UPDATE ON THE HAZEL WRIGHT ORGAN

Episode No. 26: Spring 2022 Update on the Hazel Wright Organ

 

For this episode of Sounds from the Sanctuary, host David Ball shares snippets of a recent conversation he had with the host of the OC Catholic Radio Show, Rick Howick. The topic of conversation? What is happening with the Hazel Wright Organ within the walls of Christ Cathedral? Here in the Spring of 2022, it’s time for an update! Tune in, so you can be in the know!

 

 

Originally broadcast on 3/26/22

EPISODE#248
OC CATHOLIC RADIO: IT’S OFFICIAL – HAZEL IS BACK!

“Hazel” refers to the world famous Hazel Wright Organ inside the sanctuary of the Christ Cathedral, in Garden Grove, CA. On this very special one-of-a-kind edition of the OC Catholic radio show and podcast, host Rick Howick is delighted to welcome two very distinguished guests to our studio. First is Fred Swann, the longtime organist under Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral Ministries and The Hour of Power TV show. We also welcome Kevin Cartwright, the president of Rosales Organ Builders in Los Angeles. Kevin and his team will play a key role in the care and maintenance of the newly refurbished Hazel Wright Organ.

Be sure to share this historic podcast with a friend!

EPISODE#231
OC CATHOLIC RADIO: GUEST IS DR. LOUISE DUNN OF THE NEW HOPE CRISIS HOTLINE

Host Rick Howick interviews guests on a variety of topics. On this week’s program, Rick is pleased to welcome back Dr. Louise Dunn of New Hope Ministries. New Hope is a landmark ministry housed in the ‘Tower of Hope’ on the Christ Cathedral campus, as its roots go back to 1968. Dr. Dunn will share some of the fascinating background story, and talk about the 24-hour New Hope crisis hotline. She will also share about the urgent need to find individuals who might be interested in becoming a volunteer to assist this vital ministry.

 

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 6/26/21

CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL CAPTURES THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC STORY IN MINIATURE

Bishop Kevin Vann of Orange, California, likes to tell the story of once visiting Orange County while he was still serving in Fort Worth, Texas, with no idea of what the future might hold.

Bishop Tod Brown of Orange, who at the time was about to hit the usual retirement age of 75, gave him a tour of the Crystal Cathedral, the once-glimmering home of the Rev. Robert Schuller of the Reformed Church in America and his famed “Hour of Power,” which had been put up for sale after Schuller’s ministry went bankrupt and was destined to be taken over by the Catholic Church. (For the record, there’s no actual crystal in the “Crystal Cathedral,” though it sure looks like it from a distance. The exterior actually is composed of more than 10,000 panes of glass.)

By 2012, when the Orange diocese negotiated the sale of the cathedral compound for $57.5 million – a steal by Orange County standards, with some of the most expensive real estate in the world – years of delayed maintenance and the complications of converting a quintessentially Protestant space for Catholic liturgical use made the project one of the most logistically daunting ever undertaken in American Catholicism.

“I really pity whoever gets this place next,” Vann said he was thinking, laughing out loud at the memory.

The joke turned out to be on him, because Vann was named to Orange County in September 2012 and installed in December, meaning the Crystal Cathedral, now Christ Cathedral, was suddenly his baby.

Ten days from today (on July 17, 2019), in a sense that baby will be baptized, as Christ Cathedral will be formally dedicated. That doesn’t mean all the work is done, as the cathedral isn’t actually expected to be open for daily use until February 2020. However, it does mark a major milestone and something of a victory lap for Vann.

The story of Crystal Cathedral is a quintessentially American one, capturing at least three of the defining characteristics of Catholicism in the U.S. over its history.

First, it’s a throwback to the days when American bishops were known around the world as “bricks and mortar” men. In Europe in the 19th and 20thcenturies, bishops might make a name for themselves as great intellectuals, political heavyweights or spiritual leaders, but they didn’t build much – the great cathedrals were a legacy of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, and schools were the business of the state.

American bishops, meanwhile, became famed not only for erecting great spaces for worship, but for building the most awesome network of Catholic schools, Catholic hospitals and other Catholic institutions the world has ever seen. Although those days are long gone, it used to be said that the more debt for construction a bishop left to his successor, the better a job he’d done.

Christ Cathedral will be Vann’s legacy, and no one will ever visit the remarkable facility without thinking about him. It now stands as southern California’s second great worship space to go up in the last two decades after Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, built under Cardinal Roger Mahony following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Second, the story of Christ Cathedral is deeply ecumenical, just like American Catholicism generally.

The U.S is traditionally a Protestant, even Calvinist, culture, and as a result, Catholics have been compelled to make their peace with the Christian “other” from the very beginning. It’s no accident that the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, now a global observance, began in the U.S. in 1908 with the Graymoor Friars, led by a Catholic convert from the Episcopal Church.

Christ Cathedral is not only ecumenical in the sense that it was built by a Protestant preacher and televangelist, architecturally reflecting a Protestant sensibility, but also because there’s a graveyard on the grounds containing the remains of members of Schuller’s congregation.

Called “Cathedral Memorial Gardens,” it becomes the fourth active cemetery within the Diocese of Orange and the only one that’s ecumenical. (It’s actually rare these days to have an operating cemetery adjacent to a church, though it was once the norm.)

Deliberately, the cemetery is open to Catholics and non-Catholics alike, reflecting the multi-denomination ethos and history of the site.

Finally, the story of Christ Cathedral illustrates the entrepreneurial spirit of American Catholicism, which is perhaps its single most defining characteristic in a global context.

Unlike Europe, Catholicism has never been an established church in America. From the beginning, it’s had to stand on its own two legs, while even today many Catholic communities in Europe still benefit from some form of a “church tax.” (That, by the way, is why I always say that although the U.S. and Germany generally run neck-and-neck every year as the biggest contributors to the Vatican budget, our money counts for more in a moral sense as it represents voluntary contributions rather than tax receipts.)

In the States, however, Catholics have been forced to hustle. Living in the global mother ship of capitalism, the Church has adapted and enculturated, learning to see market openings and react in a way that often leaves the rest of the world gasping.

In this case, the Diocese of Orange saw an opportunity and seized it, with the result being one of the most remarkable worship spaces anywhere in the Catholic world. It’s a quintessentially “only in America” monument, and a great place to grasp the ethos of American Catholicism.

Schuller was famous for saying, “If you can dream it, you can do it!” That’s the American spirit in a soundbite, and it’s reflected in Catholicism just as much as anyplace else.

July 17, therefore, isn’t just about the dedication of a new cathedral for one diocese. It’s a celebration of the American Catholic story – which, despite the trauma of the abuse crisis and everything else afflicting the life of the Church today, remains alive and well and on display in Orange County.

This story can be found at cruxnow.com at this link: https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2019/07/07/crystal-cathedral-captures-the-american-catholic-story-in-miniature/

LANDMARK BEACON

Christ Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and the spiritual home of Orange County’s 1.3 million Catholics. The cathedral will be the epicenter of Catholicism on the West Coast, serving not only as a place of worship, but faith formation, evangelization, charitable work, art and culture. 

Since its completion in 1980, the iconic Crystal Cathedral has been recognized as a historically significant architectural landmark and has undergone a 7-year renovation to transform it into a Catholic house of worship. Today Christ Cathedral and its surrounding 34-acre campus serve as a place where Catholics and believers of all faiths, throughout Southern California and across the globe, can gather to express their devotion. 

The Diocese of Orange is proud to be a steward of Dr. Robert Schuller’s vision that the cathedral serve as a beacon of faith and a platform to preach the power of unconditional love, hope and the idea that through belief in Jesus Christ anything is possible. 

Because of its history, significance and scale, Christ Cathedral will continue to be a popular destination for tourists from across the globe. Its iconic beauty—and its many arts and cultural events and offerings—will shine as a cultural beacon to believers of all faiths. Most important, it will serve for decades, even centuries, as a central place of worship for Southern California Catholics. 

The Diocese of Orange’s commitment to being a good steward of Christ Cathedral ensures its future relevance as a center of worship. As the Most Rev. Bishop Kevin Vann once described Christ Cathedral: “This gift of God which is given to us is not just for us, but it is for the ages.”

EPISODE#3
CATHEDRAL SQUARE: CHRIST CATHEDRAL – A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE

On today’s podcast, Fr. Christopher Smith and co-host Hank Evers discuss the process of how the iconic ‘Crystal Cathedral’ will soon be transformed into Christ Cathedral.. the very seat of the Diocese of Orange.

 

You will be amazed at this transformation!

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 4/13/19