Crystal Cathedral’s new name: Christ Cathedral

Well, that’s simple to remember, isn’t it?

Details:

The Crystal Cathedral received a new name Saturday: Christ Cathedral.

The name for the anticipated central worship space for Orange County’s Catholics came from more than 4,100 submissions, and received the Vatican’s approval in April.

The diocese plans to move into its new cathedral next June, when the current Crystal Cathedral congregation relocates to another Catholic church.

The arrangement is part of a bankruptcy deal in which the diocese purchased the cathedral for $57.5 million.

Bishop Tod Brown made the announcement to parishioners at the diocese’s yearly priest ordination at St. Columban Catholic Church in Garden Grove.

He said in a statement that the first Catholic worship has yet to be scheduled at the cathedral.

“Catholics throughout the diocese, and all across America, are eagerly anticipating that important day,” he said.

More, from the Orange County Register:

For congregants of the Crystal cathedral founded 50 years ago by the Rev. Robert Schuller,  it was another blow.

“I will always call it the Crystal Cathedral,” said Tanya Kirkland, an active longtime member of the financially-troubled ministry.

This week, the bankrupt ministry famous for its “Hour of Power” television program announced that it is leaving its campus for St. Callistus Catholic Church in June 2013. For the first six months, rent will be free under an arrangement with the Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, Catholic leaders will begin renovations in July 2013 to convert the cathedral site to a Catholic place of worship. That process is expected to take at least a year.

For Catholics, the naming of a church is a formal process. A proposed name is submitted to the Congregation of Bishops, “the curia in Rome responsible for all matters pertaining to bishops and their churches,” according to a news release. Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown received approval April 26. A primary requisite in considering a church name is that it relate to the study, deeds and teachings of Jesus, he said.

The name Christ Cathedral best expresses its Christian identity, its initials also are CC and the name represents an “ecumenical dimension” with which members of other Christian communities can identify, Brown said following Saturday’s service.