The Project
In June 2007, Eric Stoltz and Francesco Curá decided to embark on a project to document all the cathedrals of California with fine art photography and text narrative. California has more cathedrals than any other state. Research indicates some 35 Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican (Episcopal) cathedrals throughout the state, from San Diego to Santa Rosa.
The goal of this project is not only to offer images of the art and architecture of each cathedral, but also to chronicle the vibrant liturgical life that takes place within cathedrals as well as the outreach and social services centered in so many of them. Along the way, we hope our efforts will help many to gain a new appreciation of the roles of cathedrals in our society.
The Cathedrals of California project is an ecumenical endeavor. While both of us are Roman Catholics, we also wish to explore the diversity of Christianity in our state by including cathedrals of Anglican and Orthodox traditions. We realize that some congregations of other traditions have churches they refer to as cathedrals.* However for the purposes of this project we have limited ourselves to churches that fit the ancient definition of a cathedral: a church with the chair, the bishop's own church.
In July 2007 we began this journey with our first photo shoot at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. This was only the first of additional sessions at this cathedral and a launch to begin photographing the many cathedrals present in Los Angeles before continuing on to the rest of the state. We are especially grateful to the pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, for being the first to welcome us, and for allowing us to also photograph a baptism. It is fitting that our first documentation of a liturgical event for this project was the one that initiates all Christians.
We have no timetable for when this project will be completed. We will schedule shoots according to available time and resources. As we progress, we will post images and narrative on this site, and we hope the project will also result in a fine art book that will be of interest not only to Californians, but to all people interested in art, architecture, the history of California and Christianity.
How You Can Help
Any project is more than those whose names appear first. You can also be a part of this project. Here are a few ways you can help:
- Notify us of exceptional events taking place at your cathedral. These include especially those liturgical celebrations proper to cathedrals: ordinations, dedications, diocesan celebrations and such. At times we may not be able to accommodate all events (for example in June, when ordinations take place almost everywhere), but we will most certainly appreciate your suggestions.
- Help us with financial support. We are undertaking this project out of our own meager resources, and it will entail travel and equipment expenses. If you'd like to help, we have provided a link on the right for gifts through PayPal.
- Send us information about your cathedral. Histories, anniversary books with historical information, archival photographs, or even your own memories will all be helpful to us. You can email them or mail them to us.
- Welcome us to your cathedral. We understand that rectors, deans, pastors and cathedral staff are busy, and our request for a shoot may be yet one more request in an already heavy schedule. But we hope you will enable us to ensure that the project is comprehensive and includes all our cathedrals.
A Note About Comments
We are glad to have people offer comments to the posts on this site. Please note that all comments are moderated. Your comment will be reviewed before appearing on this site. Any comments that defame bishops, religious traditions, or are excessively negative or argumentative will be removed. That's not to say you can't engage in a spirited debate about art and architecture, but please do so from an educated standpoint. Merely calling any cathedral "ugly," for example, is not an educated statement. Charity is required of all commenters.
Use of Photography From This Site
You are welcome to use photos from this site on another Web site with the following conditions:
- The photo is not cropped or altered (resizing is OK), and the watermark with copyright information and the URL www.cathedralsofcalifornia.com is intact.
- The blog post or other such entry using the photo includes a text link to this site and an invitation to visit this site.
- Use of more than one photograph may not constitute a full or partial gallery of images from this site. We feel that use of one or two photos should be sufficient for purposes of providing an example; visitors should then be encouraged to visit this site to see more.
All other uses of copyrighted material from this site require permission. Please feel free to contact us for other uses.
*Of course we by phrasing it this way we do not mean to offend anyone, particularly not, for example, Lutherans who have many fine cathedrals in Europe and Scandinavia or members of the Old Catholic (Utrecht) tradition who also have cathedrals, however none of those are in California.