Christ Cathedral is the new name for the former Crystal Cathedral, the Orange County landmark that is under new ownership, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County announced Saturday.
The new name was suggested by parishioners, and chosen from among 4,100 suggestions by Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown. He passed the proposed name to the Vatican, which approved it, spokesman Stephen Bohannon said Saturday.
The announcement was made at St. Columban Catholic Church in Garden Grove after an ordination ceremony Saturday.
Father Christopher Smith, who will be serving in as the Bishop's representative at Christ Cathedral, said the county diocese had originally planned to build a new cathedral "from the ground up."
"Through an amazing set of circumstances, we were able to acquire the campus," Smith said. "It's going to serve as the center of the work for the Diocese of Orange."
Smith starts July 2, he said, but there's no reopening date set for the cathedral.
The iconic megachurch's sale for $57.7 million to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange was approved by a bankruptcy judge in November 2011.
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Televangelist Rev. Robert H. Schuller and his wife resigned from the board of the Crystal Cathedral in March. The evangelical church had suspended its signature "Hour of Power" broadcast after filing for bankruptcy in 2010.
The current Crystal Cathedral congregation will relocate to another Catholic church next year. It's not yet known when the first Catholic worship will occur at the cathedral.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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