Communicating For Christ Forever: PR Lessons Learned from the Roman Catholic Church’s Rebranding of Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral

In 2010-2011, Robert H. Schuller’s internationally renowned Crystal Cathedral Ministry endured a series of crises resulting in bankruptcy and dissolution. The collapse allowed the Roman Catholic Diocese to make a property acquisition unprecedented in U.S. religious history. This public relations case study drawing on news media content analysis and interviews with campaign planners profiles a $100 million For Christ Forever marketing campaign aimed at transforming the property into the most significant Catholic center in the Western hemisphere. The case study shows how the Catholic Diocese used compliance-gaining strategies and diffused public criticism during an extraordinary event in the history of American Christianity. The review concludes five best practices recommendations applicable in a variety of public relations situations involving nonprofits in transition. Communicating For Christ Forever 3 Introduction The $52 million bankruptcy-forced sale of Rev. Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Church is unprecedented and noteworthy in several ways. It is one of the single largest and most expensive property acquisitions undertaken by a religious organization in the United States. The purchase came about as a consequence of the sudden and embarrassing collapse of what was formerly one of the world’s most wealthy and prestigious Protestant Christian televangelist ministries. The acquisition of the Crystal Cathedral to establish a new home for Catholics in Southern California necessitated the development of a complex and extraordinary communications campaign to inform and persuade. The campaign employed many of the interpersonal compliance gaining ideas first espoused by Marwell and Schmitt (1967) as it targeted low-income, immigrant, non-English speaking Catholics to fund the purchase of a prestige property that, to some, is more recognized as a tourist attraction than as a house of worship (USA Today 10 Best Attractions and Activities, 2014). The For Christ Forever campaign sought to raise more than $100 million to purchase the property and support infrastructure improvements and long-term maintenance. The informational and fundraising effort, developed through the involvement of communication professionals and agencies working at times together and at times separately, and launched within a period of just a few weeks, offers an exceptional example of how a religious organization not known for speedy action (Why is the Catholic Church so slow to change? , 2014) swiftly seized an opportunity for growth. As For Christ Forever unfolded, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange found itself faced with a variety of complex logistical issues with the news media, the general Communicating For Christ Forever 4 public, Catholic faithful, and wealthy donors whose financial support was essential. Crystal Cathedral donors whose bequeathed icons would literally be uprooted in the property’s ownership transition harshly criticized the Diocese; this criticism, publicized through a series of unpleasant stories in the news media, created potential crisis incidents that the Diocese addressed as the rebranding campaign was beginning. Although the many outcomes of For Christ Forever will take years to accomplish, early indications reflect noteworthy success. Catholic faithful and the public at large supported the property acquisition. In less than a year, donors came forward with more than $82 million in gifts, and strong ties were developed with media gatekeepers in California and worldwide. This case study reviews the financial crisis and family conflict in Robert H. Schuller’s ministry that resulted in its bankruptcy and sale of the Crystal Cathedral. It presents a timeline of events in which the Catholic Diocese of Orange started out as one of several bidders for the property, ultimately was chosen as the purchaser, and was rhetorically anointed as such by Robert H. Schuller. The article summarizes the For Christ Forever campaign to support the purchase property and fund refurbishment and long-term support, using information offered in interviews with the Diocese and involved public relations agency representatives. The article discusses how the Diocese responded when local media publicized allegations that memorial stones, cemetery plots and other bequeaths of Crystal Cathedral congregants had become “expendable” with the property transfer (Lovett, 2013, para. 2). It concludes by linking the actions of the Diocese with appropriate public relations and crisis management strategies. Finally, it offers five best practices suggestions for educators and professionals. Communicating For Christ Forever 5 For more than 50 years, Robert H. Schuller was one of the world’s most recognized and admired Christian ministers (Frankl, 1990). He began preaching from the rooftop of a Southern California drive-in theater snack bar in 1955, using the slogan “come as you are, in the family car” (Poole, 2010, p. 19). Schuller’s positive and appealing sermons were “packed with success stories, accented by alliterative slogans and an ‘I’m O.K. , you’re O.K. ’ philosophy” (Retailing optimism, 1975, p. 44). Before long, Schuller took to television and became nationally prominent through his Hour of Power TV program that claimed 10 million viewers a week at the height of its popularity (Miller, 2001). In 1980, Schuller’s Garden Grove Community Church sought to construct a structure that would accommodate growing numbers of congregants. The result was the $18 million Crystal Cathedral, an all-glass sanctuary with 10,000 windows, 2,700 seats, and one of the world’s largest pipe organs. The Crystal Cathedral became so emblematic of Schuller’s ministry that the church changed its name to align with the new building. Schuller continued building his legacy around the Crystal Cathedral. The grassy campus surrounding the Cathedral housed a school, visitor center, offices, statuary gardens, and a 236-foot bell tower made out of polished stainless steel. Beginning in the early 2000s, a series of highly publicized family and financial conflicts, coupled with the national economic downturn, brought the once-thriving ministry to its knees (Swanson, 2012a). By 2011, the ministry was bankrupt, with debts of $43 million and counting. The Hour of Power was withdrawn from many television major markets. Key staff members were laid off and maintenance of the property was scaled back. In November 2011, the Crystal Cathedral and all the land around it were ordered sold by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge and by 2013 the ministry had vacated the Communicating For Christ Forever 6 property. Table 1 shows the timeline of events from Robert H. Schuller’s first announced retirement in 2006 until the final Crystal Cathedral Ministry service in 2013. By the time the Crystal Cathedral’s financial issues became public knowledge, officials with the Diocese of Orange were already engaged in a discussion about the need to accommodate growing numbers of Catholic worshipers. The Catholic population in Orange County, California, exceeds 1.2 million and is growing – particularly in the Vietnamese and Korean communities (Santa Cruz, 2011). No existing structure was sufficient in size to host large worship services. The Diocese had hired an architect and was planning to spend much more than $100 million to find land and begin construction of a new building. The impending bankruptcy the Schuller ministry provided an unparalleled opportunity to acquire a world-renowned house of worship in much less time than new construction would require. “It was a tactical decision,” said Father Thomas Rausch, a professor of Catholic theology at Loyola Marymount University. “Here’s this beautiful church with a rich history in Orange County and an identity that’s already established. It’s a bargain for the local church” (Santa Cruz, 2011, para 16). At the point where it became obvious that the Diocese should make a bid for the Crystal Cathedral, Diocese officials realized a financial plan would face many challenges. A primary issue would be that parishioners – many, recent immigrants, non-English speaking and low-income – would be asked to fund purchase of a prestige property while existing parish churches were badly in need of repair and support. The Diocese had already identified exigent financial needs of local parishes that it had planned to address in a smaller countywide campaign. The needs included $16 million in refurbishments, upgrades, and curriculum enhancements for Catholic Communicating For Christ Forever 7 schools, $16 million in infrastructure improvements for local parish churches and service centers, $6.1 million of additional investments in Diocesan Ministries, and $2 million to increase the endowment fund for retired priests. The Diocese decided to roll all local parish needs into a single fundraising campaign. This would allow purchase of the Crystal Cathedral, its 34-acre campus and six additional buildings while allowing the Diocese to clean up pressing infrastructure and financial support issues that were problematic from the standpoint of future growth and public image. Donors would be allowed to make pledges extending over a five-year period. Each parish would be assigned a predetermined fundraising target; at the point where the target was reached, all additional funds raised in that parish would return to the local church. The fundraising effort was to be guided by the Cathedral Guild. Membership in the Guild was offered to Catholics who made a confirmed gift or pledge of at least $100,000 to support the campaign or who generated a single gift of at least $1 million from a foundation, corporation or nonprofit organization. The Guild was authorized to hire professional agencies to develop the campaign strategy, tactics, and tools. The Orange Catholic Foundation (OCF) would administer the campaign. OCF is an independent charitable 501(c) (3) corporation that raises f