L.A. Cathedral Is Dedicated

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels was dedicated Monday, amid ancient prayers and pageantry, as a cathedral for the ages and a house of prayer for all people.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony led a procession through the cathedral’s massive bronze doors to a four-hour service steeped in Catholic ritual dating to the 4th century. Three thousand invited guests expressed their devotion, then watched a sacred dance--a modern innovation in the Western church--and the traditional anointing of the altar and the building with aromatic holy oil.

The 12-story cathedral, built to stand at least 500 years, is the first major American cathedral to be built in three decades. Its dedication as the mother church of the nation’s largest and most ethnically diverse Roman Catholic archdiocese culminated eight years of an effort led by Mahony to build a monumental cathedral that he vowed would be worthy of the City of Angels.

“At long last, there is a noble great church at the heart of Los Angeles,” Mahony declared as sunlight, distilled to a phosphorous essence by towering windows of Spanish alabaster, streamed into the cavernous nave.

He ended with a shimmering vision of a 21st century cathedral, rooted in 18th century California history, committed to building a just and inclusive community in the state’s “most diverse and decidedly most global city.”

“From this day forward,” he proclaimed, “the stones of this building will sing, echoes rolling down the ages, telling of love and justice through the lives of all who come and go from this house of prayer for all people.”

Mahony called the church an “anchor for the ages.”

The dedication liturgy on an unusually hot and humid day was witnessed by a personal representative of Pope John Paul II, the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., 11 other U.S. cardinals and nearly a thousand bishops, priests and deacons in vestments of matching hues of white and adobe.

Also present were more than 1,300 donors and parishioners, many of them among the city’s most prominent business, civic and entertainment figures, as well as the Spanish architect, Jose Rafael Moneo, who designed the cathedral.

It was a moment of triumph and celebration for the church, which for the last eight months has been shaken by local and national scandals over the alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests and bishops. For downtown business interests and civic leaders, Monday marked a signal achievement in attempts to bring a new vibrancy to the heart of the city.

And for many of the Los Angeles archdiocese’s 5 million Catholics who never ventured to the old St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, which languished on the edge of skid row, the day marked an introduction to their first mother church.

St. Vibiana’s, a Spanish Baroque building at the long-faded corner of 2nd and Main streets, was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It has been sold by the archdiocese, and there are plans to convert it into a center for the performing arts.

The design of the Moneo cathedral--which, at 333 feet in length, was designed to be a foot longer than St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York--has drawn both praise and criticism.

Its soaring angular rooflines and feathered concrete walls suggest angels’ wings in the abstract for some. Others have complained that the monumental building’s austerity and untraditional design are cold and uninspiring.

Demonstrators were on hand Monday to underscore their long-standing criticism of the $189.5-million cost of the cathedral and conference center in view of the ever-present needs of the poor and marginalized. One sign proclaimed, “No Fat Cat Cathedral.”

Mahony announced at the end of Monday’s service that the cathedral complex had been “fully funded” by cash receipts and pledges.

The $189.5-million “final cost” figure was also released Monday by the archdiocese. Earlier estimates had put the cost at $200 million.

There were also demonstrators who supported the cathedral. “We are praying for you,” a sign said. Still others used the occasion to remind the archdiocese of the sexual abuse scandal, in which more than 250 priests nationwide have resigned or been dismissed and scores of bishops have been criticized for lax oversight. A large papier-mache effigy of Mahony held a sign that read, “Suffer the little children.”

Mahony made no reference to the scandal in his homily, although he spoke in general terms about the redemption of sinners and the transforming effect of God’s word.

Mahony has said in interviews that the cathedral will stand, as cathedrals have through the ages, as a beacon of righteousness and God’s love even in the face of scandal and disappointment in the church.

Among the cardinals present were two whose resignations have been demanded by many in their archdioceses--Bernard Law of Boston and Edward M. Egan of New York. Mahony has been critical of Law in the past, but an archdiocese spokesman said it is customary to invite all American cardinals to such an event.

But those controversies appeared to recede, at least for the moment, during the dedication.

“I’m going to feel I’m part of many centuries of devotion,” Ernesto Vega, director of Guadalupe House in East Los Angeles, said before the procession. Guadalupe House counsels Latino candidates for the priesthood.

“I’m going to pray for those who come after me. Our mission is to pray for the church in L.A., to pray for future generations,” Vega said.

It was a day of firsts: the first procession into the cathedral, the first blessing of the baptistery, the first time the cardinal officially sat in his cathedra, or throne, and the first time the altar was kissed.

It was also the first time the cathedral’s 6,019-pipe organ was played during a Mass, the first time the Eucharist was celebrated there and the first time the perpetual sanctuary candle was lighted in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, signifying the presence of the consecrated bread and wine, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The organ swelled with Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” as the procession passed through the bronze doors. Up the long ambulatory they proceeded--men and women, rich and poor, the city’s sung and unsung. Their footsteps fell on newly polished stones of Spanish limestone. They passed the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. They passed the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels. They reached a restored 17th century Spanish Baroque Retablo, the gold-leafed backdrop of a forgotten altar. They turned right, then right again to behold a soaring nave with gentle natural light streaming through the alabaster windows. They filled the pews.

“Christus vincit (Christ has conquered),” they proclaimed.

“Christus regnat (Christ reigns).”

“Christus imperat (Christ is supreme).”

A climatic moment came midway through the service, when the building was liturgically transformed into a cathedral. What had, according to tradition, been a mere building, was made holy in the next few minutes as Mahony, wearing a linen apron tied with cardinal red apron strings, liberally poured aromatic chrism--holy oil--on the square, seven-ton, burgundy-colored altar of Turkish marble that he designed. He then spent several minutes spreading the oil over the surface with his bare palm.

Minutes later, five Los Angeles auxiliary bishops and the archdiocese’s vicar general fanned out through the congregation with bowls of holy oil and stained the cathedral walls, tracing three-foot high crosses beneath 12 bronze and silver angels as a sign of baptism. The stains are expected to be noticeable for months, if not years.

In another dramatic moment, thick plumes of incense smoke billowed from a large basin set on the altar and rose almost 10 stories to the cathedral’s wood ceiling as a sign of prayers going to heaven.

Next, 12 sacred dancers--diminutive Vietnamese nuns in navy blue and white habits--gracefully glided around the altar and through the cathedral with uplifted bowls of burning incense. The dance by the Vietnamese Lovers of the Holy Cross filled the cathedral with the sweet scent of chrism.

Mahony said the cathedral, resting on the heritage of the Spanish missions built along El Camino Real by 18th century Franciscans, was a milestone on a spiritual road to God and community.

“Today,” Mahony declared in his homily, which he read from a TelePrompTer, “the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels joins the storied ranks of the early missions, the first permanent structures built across the California landscape.

“It sinks its foundations in the very heart of the City of Los Angeles, astride today’s El Camino Real--today’s less colorfully named Hollywood Freeway--where it will stand and soar for many centuries as a sign of God’s enduring presence in our lives and community.”

Mindful of those who have criticized the archdiocese for spending so much on a new cathedral, Mahony said the cathedral would stand as a champion for justice and a unifier in the secular city.

His homily was replete with appeals for “a more humane and just city.” He spoke of “the longings of our larger city” and “links across social classes.” He called for “cooperative living.” He said the cathedral plaza should be a place where “the poor and rich mingle.”

“God’s word always calls us to move beyond our fears and limitations, to take risks that will fashion us more and more into God’s image,” Mahony said. “Anyone who comes here should continue on their journey with a replenished spirit of respect for all other peoples--in a special way, rendering thanks for the gift of ethnic diversity in this great urban center. No traces of discrimination or racism are to be found in this space. God’s temple is a house for all peoples.”

It was a theme repeated by Pope John Paul in a letter read by his envoy, Vatican Cardinal James F. Stafford. “May this cathedral always remain an eloquent symbol of communion and fraternity, of mutual respect and understanding,” the pope wrote.

Mahony sounded a note of caution, lest the archdiocese become caught up with the cathedral, but not its meaning.

“Is all this splendor and architectural artistry enough for us?” he asked. “Can we rest content with the beauty arising from this spot? We must answer an emphatic ‘No!’ Not as a kind of cultural treasure was the cathedral built. As a vibrant symbol of God’s habitat in our city, this outer form must find an echo in the inner graces of a people who listen intently to God’s word, as it comes to us as challenge and consolation,” he declared.