The Cathedral of Christ the Light
I finally had the opportunity to visit the Oakland diocesan Catholic ministries new mega-church – The Cathedral of Christ the Light – on Lake Merritt. The new church cost $190 million to construct and presents a very interesting architectural design as evident below:
Upon entering the church I was blown away, before me and the other patrons was a 58-foot image of Jesus produced by light passing through over 94,000 laser-drilled holes. In the morning sun, the image of Jesus – suposively sitting on his throne at the verge of Armageddon, with his left hand on the Book of Life and the right hand raised with two fingers held up to proclaim the second coming – continually captured my attention. As evident in the photograph below, the building structure was designed to let in a tremendous quantity of light. The massive scale of the Jesus imagine and the quantity of Douglas fir surrounding the cathedral was impressive and aesthetically pleasing. Although the acoustics were pleasant during song, during readings the echo was so great that it made it very difficult to hear what was being said.
Below is the church’s mission statement:
The Cathedral of Christ the Light will be a model in all aspects of diocesan ministry – liturgical, social, ecumenical, interfaith, catechetical, educational, and evangelical. The vision of Bishop Vigneron is that the Cathedral should be an energy source, a center to receive and chare Christ’s light, and a model for the individual parishes within the diocese. This vision is one of kinetic worship and praise through an active movement of God’s people into and out of the Cathedral. The people are drawn in to experience the love of God and one another through the vibrant worship and educational programs of the Cathedral and reception of Christ’s light. Their sending forth to love and serve God and one another calls them to service and the sharing of Christ’s light with others. It is a sending forth of God’s people to use their received “luminescence” for the betterment of themselves, their families and local communities and beyond.
As impressive as the cathedral was, I was more impressed with the mausoleum below. It looked like something out of the da Vinci Code and filled me with slight awe and reverence; I could see how such a building could aid in the indoctrination of some people. The whole mausoleum was filled with marble, Douglas fir and stained glass, as given below:
In addition to the cathedral and mausoleum, the church has a cafe, gift shop, conference center and parking garage, providing for all of your church needs.
