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What is a Cathedral?
Archival pieces from Michael Lampen, Great buildings are outward expressions of the human spirit -- its aspirations, hopes and fears. The ancient initiatory caves of Lascaux, the mysterious circle of Stonehenge, the vast pyramids of Giza, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling -- all speak of the human urge to transcend the mundane and commune with the divine. In the western world, this desire is most comprehensively expressed in the cathedral -- that soaring multifaceted shrine of carved stone and stained glass that awes as much as it inspires.
The medieval cathedral was a civic culmination of Christian theology -- a vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the New Paradise, coming from God "like a bride adorned for her husband", as described in the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic last book of the Bible. The bejewelled walls of the city were the cathedral's stained glass windows, the rows of Edenic trees were the nave and choir piers, the Heavenly Throne was the High Altar and the stream flowing from Christ the Lamb was the baptismal font. The cathedral's facade was the mighty triple-door city gateway and its multilayered statuary expressed a virtual roll-call of Christian faith. The word "cathedra" means "bishop's throne or seat" and such a throne made a church building a cathedral church. In time the adjective was transformed into a noun -- cathedral.
Of course there was rivalry among medieval bishops, clergy, nobles and nouveau-riche merchants to see who could finance the finest and largest cathedral, just as corporations vie for the tallest skyscraper today. Cathedrals were hugely ambitious undertakings -- great encyclopedias of faith -- often taking several campaigns, spread over a century or more, to complete. The founders of a cathedral almost never witnessed its completion. The passing centuries have dimmed the memory of human pride and rivalries, leaving the great cathedrals as witnesses to the underlying spiritual inspiration that drove their construction. The years have also emphasized the medieval belief that nothing was too good, too costly, too skillfully made or too beautiful for the House of God. The exquisitely carved figures often far out of sight on high parapets and finials attest to this ideal -- human skill and material beauty devoted wholely to spiritual ends. Approaching its ninety-second year as an institution, Grace Cathedral inherits these high ideals from its predecessors. With its avowed role, quoting Isaiah and Christ, as "a House of Prayer for All People", it is a launching-pad for new discoveries in the world of human community and spiritual frontiers. As a cathedral of the Anglican Conmmunion, it shares an Anglican heritage of faith that extends to many corners of the globe. "Is this church Catholic?", is a frequently-asked question at Grace Cathedral. As one of the United States' eighty-two Episcopal cathedrals, Grace Cathedral represents the best of Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions, expressed in a unique blend of the traditional, the progressive and the spiritual. As the third largest Episcopal cathedral, and the largest traditional-style church building in the far west, it is a tourist sight and a city landmark. As a growing and dynamic congregation of believers it is becoming a true cathedral of persons. As a community focus Grace Cathedral is both a common ground for dialogue and reconciliation, and a place of empowerment for community-directed compassion and service. Grace Cathedral is a living cathedral -- a cathedral built of people -- the donors who built and furnished it, the clergy and staff who serve it, the congregation who worship in it and serve the wider community, the schoolboys who study in cathedral crypt classrooms, and the visitors who come by the hundreds daily to explore and learn from it, to walk the labyrinth, or to sit in quiet contemplation. Even the neighbors who come to do their tai-chi meditation/exercises in its shadow, the homeless who sometimes sleep on its pew cushions, and the endlessly-patient cathedral garage attendant are part of its life. While Grace Cathedral took sixty-seven years to complete, there are still parts of the building -- such as the nave and transept vault webs, that await completion. Other features, such as the stained glass, approach a long-term conservation campaign. New additions are still installed on occasion, as taste and emphasis changes through time. A New England minister once observed that a great cathedral is never finished, and so it is with Grace Cathedral. So it is also with the living cathedral-of-the-spirit. So long as the spirit lives, the building of cathedrals, in the world and in human hearts, will go on. The Grace Cathedral Virtual Tour |
