Bankrupt Crystal Cathedral

Crystal Cathedral blames a few creditors for bankruptcy

By Deepa Bharath

Crystal Cathedral Ministries, an Orange County landmark and megachurch founded by television evangelist Robert H. Schuller, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday.

The cathedral owes about about $7.5 million to unsecured creditors.The bankruptcy filingseeks court protection from its creditors.

Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman said in a statement Monday that the bankruptcy filing was a necessity because a small number of creditors chose to file lawsuits and obtained court-ordered writs to attach the church's bank accounts and assets in an attempt to get paid right away.

"For these reasons, the Ministry now finds it necessary to seek the protection of a Chapter 11," she said later at a press conference.

A committee of creditors that was working with the church for the last six months declared an impasse last week, foreshadowing the bankruptcy. Jim Penner, a church board member and Schuller's son-in-law, said the cathedral's intention is to repay all vendors 100 percent.

He said the church's debt as of Monday is about $44 million.

Among the long-time vendors for the "Glory of Christmas" pageant still waiting to get paid are Krstina Oliver, who supplied camels, horses and sheep for the pageant; wardrobe manager Juliet Noriega; dry cleaner Bruce Johnson, who cleaned the actors' costumes; props manager Sharon Crabtree, and Carin Galletta, whose public relations firm provided publicity for the pageant.

Oliver, to whom the cathedral owes more than $50,000, said none of the creditors is to blame for the church's bankruptcy.

"This is the church's debt,'' she said. "They brought us into it."

http://www.ocregister.com/news/cathedral-271669-creditors-bankruptcy.html

(Bharath, “Crystal Cathedral blames a few creditors for bankruptcy,” The Orange County Register, Oct. 19, 2010).