Bridge builder, window builder
For an organization founded multiple millennia and two dead languages ago, the Catholic Church is sometimes surprisingly ahead of the curve. I mean, the actual Pope is on Twitter. Honest.
Bonus fact — because we love you at The American Genius and made sure this assignment got to a guy whose Catholic bona fides are such that his high school had catacombs — Il Papa’s slick digital handle, “Pontifex,” is Latin for “bridge builder.”
High priest of Rome back in Empire days went by “Pontifex Maximus,” Latin for “really big bridge builder.” Francis leaves “Maximus” off his Twitter, despite the fact that, with 10 million followers, his Twitter is actually bigger than Rome. That’s class.
Crystal Cathedral in the red, time for crowdfunding
That said, the Church is not generally considered among the more progressive organizations on Earth. Certainly one does not expect a group whose security staff still rolls like this to be at the cutting edge of digital marketing.
But one thing the Catholic Church is, was, and ever shall be at the cutting edge of, is big shiny glass things. With this, this, and this on the resume, who else are you going to call when something called the Crystal Cathedral goes bankrupt?
Bankrupt is bankrupt, no matter how shiny your windows are. Crystal Cathedral wasn’t Catholic to begin with.
It was the showpiece and beating heart of the reasonably named Crystal Cathedral Ministries, who declared bankruptcy in 2010 after creditors called in debts amounting to more than $43 million. It’s hard enough to reestablish faith after a brand goes bankrupt. What about literal faith?
Well, there’s sure a lot of glass around the place…
11,236 ways to donate
Orange Catholic Foundation put out the call. For a donation, folks can “digitally dedicate” one of the renamed Christ Cathedral’s – count ‘em – 11,236 glass panels, adding names, images, quotes, digital icons or prayer intentions, all public or private at the donor’s preference.
Dedicated glass panels start at $40, and they’ll happily take up to $10,000. $100 or more scores you a commemorative holiday ornament: yes, Catholics can say “holiday,” not just “Christmas.” Check it out if you feel like building a cathedral today.
#CrystalCathedral
