PUBLIC FORUM : ST. VIBIANA'S CATHEDRAL: SHOULD IT BE DEMOLISHED?The rush on the part of the church and the city to demolish historic St. Vibiana's Cathedral is sadly reflective of the record of this city's haste to raze raze also rase tr.v. razed also rased, raz·ing also ras·ing, raz·es also ras·es 1. To level to the ground; demolish. See Synonyms at ruin. 2. To scrape or shave off. 3. its architectural treasures to make way for any developer with cash. The Italian art Italian art, works of art produced in the geographic region that now constitutes the nation of Italy. Italian art has engendered great public interest and involvement, resulting in the consistent production of monumental and spectacular works. historian Bernard Berenson once said that poverty had saved Venice for history. So surely has the Cash Deal destroyed Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Conservancy The Los Angeles Conservancy is the preeminent historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California. It works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. is to be commended for attempting to find a way to save and restore this community treasure. If the archdiocese had the will to save St. Vibiana's, it could surely do so. We should not look on this as a redevelopment opportunity, but as a tragedy, and we should be profoundly saddened by our loss. - Mary Edwards Granada Hills Forty-seven million dollars to build a new cathedral. For shame, Cardinal Manhony! Do away with the silver chalices and gold leaf ceilings and put the money back into the struggling community. God would be very much in favor of this deed. - Paul Vaughn Van Nuys If we examine the First Amendment issue the archdiocese raises, perhaps we should also look at the establishment clause of the First Amendment The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment refers to the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.... as well as the free exercise clause. The archdiocese seeks special legislative treatment, both on a state and a local level, for its Cathedral Square project. Such favoring of one religious group over any other raises questions about the establishment. - Lourdes M. Brent Woodland Hills The government should stay out of it. The separation of government and religion applies to St. Vibiana's. Let Cardinal Mahony do his job. There is too much damage to the structure; it is beyond repair and not safe for human life. To retrofit St. Vibiana's with beams and rods of steel would be an enormous undertaking. - Sal Garcia Woodland Hills With no disrespect to Cardinal Roger Mahony or the Catholic community, but to use freedom of religion as an argument in the St. Vibiana's Cathedral controversy is to deny the heritage of constitutional precedent. Freedom of religion, like freedom of speech, is not absolute. There are limits. Neither the church nor private parties, can do anything they want with their property. To politicize po·lit·i·cize v. po·lit·i·cized, po·lit·i·ciz·ing, po·lit·i·ciz·es v.intr. To engage in or discuss politics. v.tr. this issue through pressure on the City Council, extensive newspaper coverage and television sound bites, is to stretch the concept of separation of church and state
Cardinal Mahony needs to remember that we are a nation of laws and he is not the Pope of Los Angeles. - Alan Matis Woodland Hills Stop, halt, cease, block everything. The Los Angeles Conservancy has just discovered a snail darter swimming in the baptismal font in St. Vibiana's Catedral. - Joseph Derieg Montrose With downtown's tax base shrinking each day due to low occupancy or business flight and while the city's responsibilities for social services increase, I say let the building of the new downtown St. Vibiana begin. As I have previously suggested to both parties - a win-win solution for the Los Angeles Conservancy, of which I am a proud member; and the archdiocese, whose faith I was born into - is to include artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. of the old building into space in the new, as a multi-media exhibit for both secular and history-minded visitors, and the equally important tourists. Further, I have also previously proposed that the new cathedral be built on the site planned for the Disney Concert Hall, which would allow a cross-pollination of visitors between the Music Center and the new Cathedral, for even more needed foot traffic to the downtown civic center area. So, please, let all the parties involved go forth in compromise to love and serve the city of Los Angeles
Peace be with us? - Alice La Brie Los Angeles How many more clowns are going to appear in this circus? It's bad enough when a government entity exercises eminent domain eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over all lands and buildings within its borders, which has its origins in with compensation. Here, we have a private group depriving an owner of the use of property without compensation. All we need is another boarded-up ``monument.'' - Harold Yarnell Woodland Hills St. Vibiana's Cathedral was built for a town of 9,000, with Catholics representing only a fraction of that. The Los Angeles Archdiocese is now the largest in America, with about 3 million Catholics. I doubt if a more extreme need for an expanded, updated and structurally sound cathedral exists anywhere else in the world. Let the Cardinal rebuild his cathedral, and let the conservancy have a magnificent and viable monument worth defending. Shouldn't this be a win-win situation? - Gregory Fry Culver City Should St. Vibiana's Cathedral be demolished? It should have happened on schedule 80 years ago. When my aunt and uncle came to Los Angeles for my mother's funeral, we were taken aback when they expressed a desire to see the magnificent cathedral of a large archdiocese. Fortunately, the restraints of time and a transportation mix-up saved us the embarrassment of showing it to them. You see, they were from Toledo, Ohio, which has a truly beautiful cathedral. - Mary S. Morgan Mary S. Morgan (1952 -) FBA (Fellow of the British Academy) and FRDAAS (Overseas Fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences),is Professor of the History of Economics in the London School of Economics since 1999, of which she had earlier obtained a BSc in Economics West Hills L.A.'s Cathedral of St. Vibiana deserves to be saved as an important part of L.A.'s religious and cultural heritage. As a Catholic, St. Vibiana's holds memories for me of celebrations, weddings and a funeral. As a downtown worker, St. Vibiana's, with its unique basilica architectural style and its distinctive tower, is a welcome sight in a (mostly) anonymous cityscape (company) CityScape - A re-seller of Internet connections to the PIPEX backbone. E-Mail: <sales@cityscape.co.uk>. Address: CityScape Internet Services, 59 Wycliffe Rd., Cambridge, CB1 3JE, England. Telephone: +44 (1223) 566 950. . As a native of L.A., St. Vibiana's helps me appreciate where L.A. has been, and that L.A. was an optimistic city when the cathedral was dedicated in 1876. The 120-year-old cathedral shows me that L.A. can prevail through recessions, riots, and, yes, earthquakes. - C.A. Tag-von Stein Los Angeles I propose that the city also contribute another $45 million, acquire the surrounding properties, and build a real showcase cathedral with stained glass and all. It would be a major attraction for Los Angeles, the second largest city in America. - James V. Hotz Chatsworth Dictating to a religious institution regarding the use of its place of worship Noun 1. place of worship - any building where congregations gather for prayer house of God, house of prayer, house of worship bethel - a house of worship (especially one for sailors) is simply unacceptable. If these guys are so in love with the old broken-down cathedral, then they should buy it and put it under glass. - Stephen A. Whitlock Glendale The fact that some preservationist pres·er·va·tion·ist n. One who advocates preservation, especially of natural areas, historical sites, or endangered species. pres group could even force the church into ligating the replacement of the church's own private property is an example of how much our right to private property is being eroded. The people had better be aware that without private property rights, all else is without substance. - Fred Sullivan Lancaster What we are seeing here is a flagrant display of arrogance, pride and a whole list of unpleasant characteristics hardly befitting be·fit·ting adj. Appropriate; suitable; proper. be·fit  ting·ly adv.Adj. 1. a spiritual leader. St. Vibiana's is in the right place and, in a city all too ready to dispose of To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use. See also: Dispose its heritage, is well worth the effort to save. Use money to repair the cathedral and use this money which seems to be burning a hole in the pocket of the Catholic church to help the truly needy. - Anthony Welch Los Angeles I wonder how many people realize that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is made up of five pastoral regions. They are, as listed on Cardinal Mahony's letterhead, Our Lady of the Angels, San Fernando, San Gabriel, San Pedro and Santa Barbara. So, rather than moving St. Vibiana's Cathedral to the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , how about the San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. , or Ventura or Santa Barbara counties? That way, the church avoids the City Council bureaucracy. As for the current building, let the preservationists take the money earmarked for lawsuits and use it to renovate the structure and provide housing for the thousands of homeless in the neighborhood. - Rick Rofman Van Nuys I have been a Catholic in the Los Angeles area for about 20 years and very active in the church as a choir member, catechist cat·e·chist n. A person who catechizes, especially one who instructs catechumens in preparation for admission into a Christian church. [French catechiste, from Old French, from Late Latin and lector. As a matter of fact, I was sworn in as a catechist at St. Vibiana's Cathedral with Cardinal Manning officiating. I have worked with Cardinal Mahony. He is a very fine and caring man. Do you not think he would try to save this edifice if at all possible? He has been portrayed as some kind of demagogue dem·a·gogue also dem·a·gog n. 1. A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace. 2. A leader of the common people in ancient times. tr.v. , which he is not. If a private person had property deemed unsafe would he not be allowed to proceed? To me this is a spiteful action on the part of some people. It does not represent the people's will. It does not represent my will. - Eileen Wietstock North Hollywood Well, at least some good has come out of this whole St. Vibiana's fiasco. Now, finally, the public will find out just what kind of person Roger Mahony really is: a Machiavelli in priest's clothing who thinks he is above the law and can steam-roller over the secular world the way he has his own nonsecular fiefdom fief·dom n. 1. The estate or domain of a feudal lord. 2. Something over which one dominant person or group exercises control: . The only interests he has at heart are his own self-aggrandizing schemes. By his ever-so-quick threat to abandon the downtown area if he does not get his way, he proves his lack of caring for the future (much less the history) of downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . Mahony needs to be reminded that pride and avarice av·a·rice n. Immoderate desire for wealth; cupidity. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin av are terrible sins. His recent actions demonstrate that he seems to have forgotten the passage from the book of Daniel Noun 1. Book of Daniel - an Old Testament book that tells of the apocalyptic visions and the experiences of Daniel in the court of Nebuchadnezzar Book of the Prophet Daniel, Daniel where the king of Babylon saw the writing on the wall: ``You have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting.'' - Berhard O'Hay Los Angeles CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Inside St. Vibiana's Cathedral: Cardinal Roger Mahon y leads an inspection. Daily News |
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