CHRIST CATHEDRAL PARISH in Garden Grove is transforming a small corner of its 34-acre campus into a space for Perpetual Adoration.
Starting this fall, the chapel at the base of the cathedral’s Crean Tower will have 24/7 Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Adoration ministry is being headed by the Christ Cathedral parish, which is also raising $200,000 to fund transformation of the chapel. To accommodate its new use for Perpetual Adoration, the interior of the chapel has been reconfigured. Instead of a pedestal in the center surrounded by benches and prayer candles, the room contains a newly constructed marble stand at its far end, on which a new monstrance containing the fully visible Blessed Sacrament will be placed. The chapel has also been retrofitted with air conditioning and a new granite floor containing a cross. Chairs will be added.
Bishop Kevin Vann is scheduled to bless the space on Oct. 14. The nearly 350-square-foot chapel dates to the construction of the Crean Tower in 1990, when the campus was known as the Crystal Cathedral headed by Dr. Robert Schuller. Designed by architect Philip Johnson, who also designed the Crystal Cathedral, the circular room has a solid domed ceiling inscribed with the Scripture verse: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people” (Mark 11:17). It was designed as a quiet prayer area blocked off outside sound and most outside light, defining Johnson’s idea of “isolated serenity.”
The chapel symbolically contains 33 cylindrical columns representing Jesus’ 33 years of life. Each column is a different type of marble from throughout the world. It also contains 12 square columns, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 Apostles and the 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The Crystal Cathedral ministry placed a prayer capsule under the floor during the original construction. It contains 33,000 prayers from throughout the globe. Under the diocese’s renovation, the capsule has remained intact.
The chapel was originally named after Crystal Cathedral donor Mary Tolerton Hood, wife of the late Clifford E. Hood, former president of U.S. Steel. All the memorial plaques outside the chapel’s entrance, including Mary Hood’s, will remain to honor the campus’ legacy. However, instead of calling it the Mary Hood Chapel, it will be referred to as the Perpetual Adoration Chapel on the Christ Cathedral campus map and related materials.
Christ Cathedral will be the fourth site in the Diocese of Orange to have Perpetual Adoration, the other three being St. Angela Merici in Brea, St. Martin de Porres in Yorba Linda and St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa.