James Day - A Place For Christ Forever: Becoming Christ Cathedral

A Place for Christ Forever

James Day

A Place for

Christ

Forever

Becoming Christ Cathedral

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS

Manchester, New Hampshire

Copyright 2019 by James Day

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Jason Pearson.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Quotations from English translations of papal encyclicals are from the Vatican web- site (http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html) Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Day, James F., author.

Title: A place for Christ forever : becoming Christ Cathedral / James Day. Description: Manchester, New Hampshire : Sophia Institute Press, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019003162 ISBN 9781622828449 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Christ Cathedral (Garden Grove, Calif.) History. Garden

Grove (Calif.) Church history.

Classification: LCC BX4603.G37 D38 2019 DDC 282/.79496 dc23 LC record avail- able at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003162

First printing

Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur omnibus gentibus.

.

Nh ta s c g i l nh c u ngu y n cho t t c cc dn t c.

Mi casa ser llamada casa de oracin para todas las naciones.

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.

Mark 11:17

I serve for the love of God, in Whom is all my hope.

Michelangelo Buonarroti Chief Architect of St. Peters Basilica

Rome, 15471564

Contents

Foreword: The Christian Sense of the Cathedral,

by Cardinal Robert Sara h ix

Prefac e xxi

Introduction: For the Glory of Man,

for the Greater Glory of Go d

Christ the Same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Porta Cael i : The Gateway to Heave n

Possibilitie s

Becoming Christ Cathedra l

Domus De i : The House of Go d

Dawn at Christ Cathedra l

Afterword, by Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann

Fo r Th e w e o C r d h

The Christian Sense of the Cathedral

Among the first things that pilgrims who visit the papal basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome will notice are those ornately decorated pieces of marble marking both sides of the central entrance with the Latin inscription:

Sacred Lateran Church, mother and head of all churches of the city and of the world.

That is, she is called Mother and Head of all churches of the city [of Rome] and of the world.

In relationship to the Lateran Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist

(the full name of the cathedral church of Rome), the cathedral churches of the Catholic Church throughout the world are like- wise head and mother (caput et mater) of the other churches of their dioceses.

The Meaning of the Cathedral Church

The church is that sacred place where the Christian community gathers to hear the word of God, to pray together, and to celebrate the sacraments. There is, of course, a difference between the church of a Christian community and the cathedral church. The cathedral is the church where the cathedra, or chair of the bishop, is located. The cathedra points, on the one hand, to the Magisterium of the Church and the dignity of the bishop. It represents the place from which the bishop announces the mystery of Jesus Christ, teaches the truth of the gospel, and guards the Catholic Faith. At the same time, the cathedra is illustrative of the authority of the bishop in his diocese. It is he who presides over a portion of the people of God in apostolic succession. Therefore, the cathedra becomes the preeminent sign of the authority of a bishop in service

of the local Church.

Indeed, the symbolic import of a chair has passed from the ecclesiastical to the academic field of universities and, for that reason, we speak of a chair of a particular professorship, with

From the cathedral, or more precisely, from the chair, or the cathedra, within the cathedral, the diocesan bishop guides and governs the diocesan community ( munus regend i ), teaches the life of faith and the doctrine of the Church ( munus docend i ), and presides over the liturgical celebrations ( munus sanctificand i ).

Throughout the centuries, the cathedral has been not only the preeminent place of divine worship in the local diocese but also a center of culture in the midst of the city, where lectures in theology, philosophy, literature, Latin, and so forth were given. Likewise, cathedrals gave birth to cathedral schools, which, in turn, gave rise to universities.

A Place Dedicated to God

Like all churches, a cathedral must be duly dedicated.

Because the church is a visible building, this house is a special sign of the pilgrim Church on earth and an image of the Church dwelling in heaven.

Moreover, when a church is constructed as a building destined solely and permanently for gathering the People of God and for carrying out sacred functions, it is fitting that it be dedicated to the Lord with a solemn rite, in accordance with the ancient custom of the Church.

Through dedication, a building is set aside forever for its special and sacred functions. The people of God are drawn and gather in it to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries. In a mysterious way, the people and the dedicated church become living stones (1 Pet. 2:5). They become, each in his own way, , and the church

The Order of the Dedication of a Church and an Alta r , chap. 2, no. 2.

truly becomes the home of all the baptized in Christ, who form the people of God.

In the liturgical Order of Dedicatio n , the Catholic Church makes manifest the will of the Christian community to offer to God a new space set aside for the celebration of the Divine Mysteries, by which all glory is given to God, and humanity is, in turn, sanctified. The precious Order of the Dedication of a church is most instruc- tive of the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy, through which we express by prayer and gestures authentic love for God and the desire to listen to Him, to praise Him, and to enter into communion with Him. We are struck by the sacramental celebration; the reading of Gods Holy Word; the silent, personal, and communal prayer of the people of God; and most of all, the texts of the prayers and

the admirable gestures of this most distinctive of rites.

When the altar and the walls of the church are anointed with Sacred Chrism, the space becomes truly sacred in all its parts and is forever given over to Christian worship. The twelve anointings of the walls call to mind the holy city of Jerusalem, as described in Sacred Scripture (Rev. 21:14; Eph. 2:20). Like the heavenly Jeru- salem, set on the foundation of the twelve apostles, the dedicated church is built upon the faith and witness of those apostles.