LOS ANGELES (Zenit/CNS): A new $A370 million cathedral was dedicated in Los Angeles on September 2 during a four-hour service led by the city’s Cardinal Roger Mahony.
The 12-storey Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, built to stand at least half a millennium, is the first major US cathedral to be constructed in three decades.
Cardinal Mahony called the edifice an “anchor for the ages”.
“At long last, there is a noble great church at the heart of Los Angeles,” he said in front of the 3000 guests.
The cathedral, designed by Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo, is more than 100 metres in length, marginally longer than St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.
Its angular roof lines and feathered concrete walls suggest angels’ wings for some, The Los Angeles Times noted, while others find its austerity and modern design ‘cold and uninspiring’.