Old News: Crystal Cathedral's Robert Schuller dies, Building Coverts to Catholicism

"Crystal Cathedral" to be renovated as Catholic "Christ Cathedral"

At a funeral, yesterday, while speaking to the pastor, I discovered that Robert Schuller's "Crystal Cathedral" was sold out of bankruptcy to the Catholic Church.
This seems to be an irony of ironies.
I was inside the "Crystal Cathedral" once, not long after it opened. From the outside it looked like a lopsided, broken mirrored glass office building. From the inside it looked more like a painted "Pipe Cathedral." It was one of the most disappointing structures one could behold. Half of the glass was obscured by the interior structural steel pipes. The seating arrangement was uncomfortable because you had turn halfway around to see the speaker at the pulpit. Worst of all, its acoustics were miserable. It was hard to hear the speakers, even with amplification, and it echoed badly. At night, the interior lighting was rude and in your face. It was designed for television, as a set, not as a place of worship.
The "Crystal Cathedral" reflected the true personality of its founder, Robert Schuller.
My experience with Schuller, fortunately, was always secondary, over the airwaves.
The first and most lasting impression was in the late 1970s, when Schuller was fundraising to build his glass edifice. He was selling personalized panes of glass and paver stones for high contributions. For a high fee, the contributor would get their name etched into piece of glass or stone for 'eternity,' or at least until it became part to the Orange County Roman Catholic Diocese (they will have to change to the Catholic version of the Ten Commandments to give cover for their idolatry). During this interview, Schuller became petulant and outright nasty when it was suggested that some of the contributed funds be used for helping the poor instead of a building dedicated to Robert Schuller. Schuller came of as nothing more than a money grubbing, phony SOB.
On rare occasions, I would briefly watch part of Schuller's "Hour of Power" televangelism. He would oh-so-slowly pitch worn out platitudes of saccharine positivism behind his phony smile. Then he would huckster his latest book that almost always seem to be liberally plagiarized from other works, such as his "Power of Possibility Thinking." Norman Vincent Peale seemed to have already used "The Power of Positive  Thinking" decades before, but that didn't deter Schuller.
Schuller had an ego as big as his glass house. Ultimately, he ended up throwing too many stones. m/r

Crystal Cathedral founder Robert Schuller achieved his vision, but couldn't sustain it - The Orange County Register

April 4, 2015  by Davis Ferrel

Schuller's Drive-in Movie
Snack bar Pulpit 

From the moment he climbed atop a drive-in theater snack bar to preach to families in their automobiles, Robert Schuller established himself as a different sort of clergyman.

What he conveyed about himself was that he was unafraid to stand out, that he was attuned to the California car culture and that he was willing to try almost any means necessary to make his voice heard.

What he said about God and Christianity was another story.

Schuller’s spiel was less dogmatic than the fire-and-brimstone oratory of other top televangelists, a fact that also set him apart. He went light on theology, heavy on a more secular message of hope and positive thinking. Schuller’s gift for marketing and entrepreneurship helped to transform the poor farmer’s son from Iowa into one of the world’s pre-emininent church leaders: a best-selling author and empire builder who was a friend to an array of celebrities and powerful political figures.

Schuller, who died of cancer Thursday at age 88, enjoyed the admiration of a global following that numbered millions, even while his many critics branded him superficial, phony and mercenary. 

-go to links-