The Crystal Cathedral has been in bankruptcy proceedings since 2010 due to a dramatic dropoff in contributions. The church is known for its Hour of Power television service.
The diocese will pay $57.5 million to use the building in Garden Grove made of 10,000 panes of glass as a long-sought county-wide cathedral.
“I’m really pleased to know that this campus is likely for at least decades, if not centuries, to be kept as a sacred place of worship,’’ Carol Milner, daughter of church founder Rev. Robert H. Schuller, said after a hearing in bankruptcy court.
The elder Schuller started the Crystal Cathedral as a drive-in church in the 1950s under the auspices of the Reformed Church in America. Decades later, the Southern California ministry evolved into an international televangelism empire and erected its now-famous building.
By Doug Beaton