LOS ANGELES -- At the end of the dedication Mass
inaugurating the $190 million Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Cardinal
Roger Mahony urged his guests to take shelter from the sweltering heat in an
unlikely place.
"The best place after your visit is the air-conditioned gift shop,"
Mahony said to nervous laughter. "It takes all kinds of cards, but has an
ATM in front."
To some, the comment was acknowledgment of the commercialization of an
otherwise sacred space.
Visitors to Los Angeles' newest landmark can sip Starbucks coffee in the
cafeteria, buy a bottle of Our Lady of the Angels chardonnay for $24.99, or
secure a final resting place in the below-ground crypt for as much as $3
million, a practice unique to the Los Angeles cathedral.
"I have never heard of this practice before of selling crypts under a
cathedral," said Lawrence Cunningham, a professor of theology at the
University of Notre Dame. "It's kind of like selling sky boxes."
The devout also are advised to bring enough money for parking in the
cathedral's underground lot, which can set visitors back as much as $12.
The cathedral's price and the cost for everything from parking to crypt space
has drawn criticism, leading a Los Angeles Times columnist to call it the Rog
Mahal. Others have dubbed it the Taj Mahony.
But many of those who came to pray and marvel Wednesday at the modernist
adobe-colored cathedral in the heart of downtown said the trinkets and parking
fee did not detract from their experience.
"Upon entering the cathedral, I was really overwhelmed," said Anne
Favorito, 45, a hospice worker born in the Philippines.
As she spoke, she touched the bronze statue of a crucified Christ figure near the
altar and shared her rapture with anyone who would listen.
In her view, the reinforced walls of the 12-story cathedral are strong enough
to keep out all natural forces, including earthquakes, thunderstorms and human
greed.
Barbara and Tom Warda filed past the silver crucifixes, porcelain statues and
woven tapestries on display in the gift shop before settling on a $24 coffee
table book.
"We really do feel it is a donation," Tom Warda said.
The couple said the souvenir -- like the rosary beads they purchased on a
pilgrimage to Catholic cathedrals in Spain and Italy last summer -- are a
remembrance. But the religious sensation they experienced on that trip and at
Our Lady of the Angels were priceless, they said.
"I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. It's just like I did there,"
Barbara Warda said.
The commercial offerings are part of a creative fund-raising approach by Mahony
that grew out of a promise not to charge the parishes "one dime for the
construction or maintenance" of the new cathedral, said Tod Tamberg,
director of media relations for the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
"In the United States, I believe it is unique," Tamberg said of the
decision to sell crypt space in the mausoleum. Such resting places have
historically been the domain of bishops and royalty.
Tamberg pointed out that crypts at the new cathedral range from $50,000 to $3
million for a private chapel.
He said he has never seen any cathedral in the world that did not have a gift
shop.
"People visit a cathedral and if they are moved by it, they want to take
something back with them," Tamberg said. "That is really what we
wanted to provide."
The parking, however, has more to do with market forces.
"This is a competitive parking environment," Tamberg said of the
downtown area.
Theologians and a leading liturgical consultant agree that it would be
virtually impossible for the church to separate itself entirely from economic
forces.
"There is always a little bit of commercialization of sacred shrines and
holy places," said the Rev. Thomas Rausch, a Jesuit priest and professor
of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Marina del Rey. He said people
travel from around the world to buy vials of holy water from Lourdes in France.
"If a cathedral is at the heart of a community ... the life of the
community in all its various manifestations will be exhibited there,"
Rausch said.
He wasn't swayed by the argument that the poor will be excluded from the
cathedral's burial plots.
"I don't think that the poor are terribly worried about where they are
going to be buried. They are much more worried about how they are going to
live," he said.
Richard Vosko, a leading design consultant who worked on Our Lady of the Angels
and several major cathedral renovations around the country, said cathedrals
have historically been places to shop.
"Cathedrals were shopping malls of their era," Vosko said.
"People could go worship, appreciate the architecture and art and shop at
food markets."