More to come on all this, but here’s a taste of what I saw Wednesday and Thursday when I visited the former Crystal Cathedral campus in Garden Grove, California (not far from Disneyland), for the annual Orange County Catholic Prayer Breakfast.
Wednesday night, I and a fellow ‘vert (a convert in this case, not a revert), attended Theology on Tap at the Valiant Brewing Company in the city of Orange for a talk called “The Eucharist: Broken and Blessed,” by Curtis Keddy, another ‘vert — his parents were Protestant missionaries — on his own history and the saving power of the Eucharist. If you’re looking for a parish speaker, book this guy. He’s terrific.
But before this, I swung by the campus — now home to the Christ Cathedral and parish community — and took some pictures.
The next morning, after rosary and Mass, about 1,000 had breakfast inside the Cathedral, which has been pretty well gutted in preparation for a complete remodel (click here and here for looks at what they have planned).
Among those addressing the group were Diocese of Orange Bishop Kevin Vann and Dr. Tim Gray of the Augustine Institute. As part of his talk, “New Evangelization or Stagnation: Which Path Will Catholics Choose?”, he gave a marvelous scripture study (Did you ever consider that the disciple accompanying Cleopas on the Road to Emmaus was his wife? Gray related the opening of their eyes to the opening of the eyes of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Interesting!).
Gray also called the Cathedral (and its campus) “a flagship of the New Evangelization.” As a start, it’s going to be home to an EWTN studio, the Magis Center, Dynamic Catholic, the Napa Institute and more.
Here’s a look at what I saw …
UPDATE: For more info, click here to read the second story I did, for Breitbart California, with more from Tim Gray and a comment from Bishop Vann. More from Gray to come.