Cardinal Roger Mahony’s vision for the $163 million Cathedral of Our Lady of The Angels is broader than just a central place of worship for millions of Catholic Angelenos. He envisions the cathedral as the northern anchor of the Grand Avenue cultural corridor that includes the Music Center, the planned Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Colburn School of the Performing Arts and the Central Public Library. And beyond Grand Avenue, Mahony sees the cathedral as a major pillar of downtown revitalization, along with the Disney Concert Hall and Staples Center Arena.

Mahony, 62, spoke with the Business Journal last week about the cathedral, the role of the business community in funding the project and his view of a revitalized downtown.

Howard Fine

Question: How does funding stand for the project?

Answer: The momentum has really been building. As of last Friday (Dec. 11), we had raised about $130 million toward the total cost of $163 million. We expect to raise the remainder by the end of 1999 at the latest.

Q: Where has the money come from?

A: We have been blessed with a wealth of contributions, many from unlikely sources that we had not anticipated would respond so favorably so quickly. Disney, Lew Wasserman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Times Mirror, a $5 million grant from the Ahmanson Foundation and many others, including Dick Riordan.

Take Lew Wasserman’s gift of $1 million, for example. I had intended to ask Lew for $100,000. Before I could even ask him, he gave $1 million because he feels strongly that this is an important addition to this city.

From the business community, we’ve had contributions from William Ferry, Peter Mullin, William Wardlaw and Eli Broad, who has been so helpful to us.

Q: There has been criticism that the money would be better spent on the parish level. But it looks like much of the money would never have materialized had it not been for the cathedral.

A: That’s right. We have no campaign among our parishoners for any of the funds. The $130 million that has been raised essentially comes from 50 individuals and organizations. The largest donations so far are coming from two Catholic foundations: The Dan Murphy Foundation and the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation. These are the two groups that suggested we not try to rebuild the old St. Vibiana’s Cathedral.

Q: What is it about this project that has attracted these contributors?

A: The reason these groups are contributing is because they would say that Los Angeles is a large, world-class city, but it has no great church, regardless of denomination. We see the cathedral as not just the Archdiocese’s church but also as the community’s church. We plan a lot of ecumenical and interfaith events here. For example, last spring, when that helicopter crash killed that little girl and the firefighters, the service was held in the old Sports Arena. And it just did not work.

They also see this as another reason why Los Angeles is a great city and why we should develop our downtown better. They see this as a key part of this full-blown thrust to remake downtown.

Q: Let’s explore that a little bit. How does the cathedral fit in to the redevelopment of downtown?

A: When this cathedral is completed, it will attract a lot of visitors. We’ve already had the tour-line companies contact us they want to make this a stop. We think it’s going to be another attracting element of a revitalized downtown the fact that it is a Moneo (designed) building and that people will see it from the freeway and decide to come and visit. We haven’t done a formal analysis yet and we won’t until after the first year it has been open, but we expect several hundred thousand people a year to visit. And they will also spend money here.

You will also have downtown workers coming here. We also are going to build 12 meeting rooms, so we would expect a lot of people to come here for meetings. And with Grand Avenue really fixed up and made a pedestrian-friendly street with restaurants, kiosks, and maybe even movie theaters, we think an area like this will really come alive.

Q: What about downtown as a whole?

A: First off, we have to make a greater effort to have people living downtown. A vital downtown always has people living there. That used to be downtown Los Angeles. But the people have left for other areas. I still live in downtown: I live at Second and Main streets. There is no market downtown. I have to go all the way west to Third Street and Alvarado to get common groceries. That has got to change. People have to live downtown and it must be an attractive space for people to come and spend time here.

Q: These are all issues that go beyond the domain of the church. How do you see your role in all this?

A: Well, you’re right. Strictly speaking, these are not church issues. But these are people issues, about the quality of life in our city. Throughout history, cathedral churches have always existed in a bustling downtown central area. In our case, we’re building a cathedral in a non-bustling situation and we are reaching out to form partnerships with business to renew and recreate what used to be a bustling downtown.

Q: How often do you come out to the site?

A: I come here almost every day. I try to come in the morning before other events begin to crowd the day.

Q: At the Disney Concert Hall project down the street, there have been all sorts of delays and problems, including the board wrangling with architect Frank Gehry. How do you plan to keep things on track here?

A: We don’t have those problems. We have a three-person absolute dictatorship here. Myself, Monsignor (Terrance) Fleming, and Brother Hilariom O’Connor. Nobody does anything without our say-so. That’s what keeps things in check. We set the total price a year ago and it hasn’t budged even one dollar. And it’s going to stay that way because we won’t allow it to budge. We are on top of it. In the early days at the Disney project, they didn’t have a dictator. You really need a czar to keep things moving along. Now they do have a czar.

Q: When do you expect construction to begin on the cathedral itself and how long do you expect that to take?

A: First, we have to construct the parking lot. Then we will begin work on the central plaza, which will be able to hold 5,000 to 8,000 people and will be a gathering place for people from all around downtown Los Angeles. After we begin the plaza, we will start laying the foundation for the cathedral. (Dry weather) this coming winter and the following winter (2000) will be absolutely crucial to our timetable. We expect the whole process to take about 30 months, which would mean it would be completed sometime in the middle of the year 2001.

Q: You have said you are planning to build a cathedral that will last 500 years. How do you plan to accomplish that?

A: We have learned from the Northridge earthquake and are putting in base isolators with the latest technology to allow the cathedral to survive earthquakes. This is essential if the building is to last, especially in Los Angeles. The other major factor is the material used to build the cathedral. We can’t use steel frames or other similar materials because over long periods of time water seeps in and can degrade the structure. That is why we are looking at different mixes of concrete, which is one of the most durable substances.

Q: What happens if the architect goes over the plans and says, “No, we should do it this way and it’s going to be a little more expensive,” and you get into overruns? On projects this size, things happen.

A: Well, they do, but we’ve got a very rigid time schedule. We have drop-dead dates throughout the project; once these dates arrive, you cannot change that element.