He's officially out: Reverand Robert H. Schuller, the founder who began Crystal Cathedral Ministries in an Orange County, California, drive-in over 50 years ago has been ousted on July 3, 2011. The 84-year-old lashed the church saying everyone is welcome -- including gay people -- in a battle over a new covenant the church now requires choir members to sign.
The church refuses to release info about the board meeting where it all happened. Schuller, now age 84, is out -- confirmed by son Robert A. Schuller, himself forced out of the Crystal Cathedral by his sisters and brothers-in-law three years ago.
It's rumored Reverand Robert H. Schuller had plans to enlarge the board -- an idea that allegedly didn't go over well with other Board members. Apparently not.
The church is accused of a conflict of interest with its Board operations -- and that just may be. "A majority of that [Crystal Cathedral] board consists of paid employees of the church and that's a serious conflict of interest," says Reverand Robert H. Schuller son Robert A. Schuller.
The Crystal Cathedral Ministries church has already been facing bad financial times after a major drop in donations and membership number that have gone down the tubes. The California house of worship was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after owing roughly $7.5 million to unsecured creditors. Many of those unsecured creditors are vendors for the cathedral's "Glory of Christmas" pageant now canceled.
A reorganization plan filed by Crystal Cathedral last month reflects an offer from an Irvine developer who wants to buy the church's core buildings for $46 million dollars. Crystal Cathedral Ministries would have a 15-year leaseback agreement with the developer--an option to buy the church properties back for $30 million in four years. The Irvine developer wants to build hundreds of apartments on part of the 30-acre grounds.
Reverand Robert H. Schuller and his daughter have been fighting over how to run the church. After more than five decades, the Crystal Cathedral Ministries just strangely changed from traditional worship services to a Gospel-style choir.
To make matters stranger yet, choir members were more recently required to sign a covenant stating that they acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior -- and signed in, to acknowledge the "belief" that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Perhaps most interesting, the 84-year old Reverand Robert H. Schuller publicly lashed what appears to be the Crystal Cathedral's battle against gays as expressed through its choir member covenant. within membership.
Robert H. Schuller publicly insisted everyone is welcome at the church -- the man he chose to build the stunning architecture for the Crystal Cathedral Ministries's glass sanctuary was openly gay. His own daughter, Carol Schuller Milner, said it was time for her father's role in church leadership to end.
While Reverand Robert H. Schuller's wife still remains on the church's board, it's said she will no longer attend board meetings. The younger Schuller calls his father's forced ousting off the board and dismissal from the church he founded "one more step in [the Crystal Cathedral's] demise."