The results of a recently released feasibility study indicate there is little support for a $3.5 million capital campaign to keep the Cathedral of Christ the King in the Diocese of Western Michigan, and it may be sold later this year unless some benefactor(s) intervenes to preserve its future. The decision will be made at the March meeting of the diocesan executive council.

The cathedral, built as founder Bishop Charles E. Bennison, Sr., noted, on “the main street of the Midwest” (Interstate 94), had housed the central offices of the diocese and a congregation since 1969. The diocese rented the space from the cathedral corporation, a subsidiary of the diocese, which subsidized the upkeep and operation of the building. The small Cathedral Parish of Christ the King also paid rent, but it was not sufficient to support the building.

In 2004, delegates at the diocesan convention approved the establishment of a representative committee to develop a plan for the use of the cathedral and to resolve the financial shortfall. Related to the issue was the decision of the bishop and executive council to move the diocesan offices to a new location and cease supporting the cathedral as of Jan. 1, 2006.

The committee presented a plan for the potential development of the 30-acre site at the 2005 diocesan convention. “My reading of the convention is that the diocese has no desire to sell the cathedral,” noted the Very Rev. Cynthia Black, dean of the cathedral and rector of the congregation, in an article in the Kalamazoo Gazette. “They are concerned how we are going to pay for it.”

The cathedral corporation, with the consent of the executive council, set up a feasibility study committee working with the consultants of the Breton Group in Grand Rapids, Mich. Interviews were scheduled with some 40 people scattered through the diocese concerning the possibility of a capital campaign to support the cathedral ministries and building. Meanwhile study continues concerning the possible sale and/or lease of the existing property.

“We are in the midst of a process of discernment,” said the Rt. Rev. Robert R. Gepert, Bishop of Western Michigan. “Knowing what God would have us do is not always easy. Neither is it always easy to do what God would have us do. Still we must trust the process, trust God.”

The results of the feasibility study will be received by the cathedral corporation at its February meeting. The corporation will prepare a full report on what can be done regarding the cathedral and the congregation for the March meeting of the executive council.

(The Rev.) Joseph Neiman

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