H I STORY
FROM THE RUINS A new concept, a new cathedral
S
tanding in the charred ruins of the church in which he had recently been installed as the fifth archbishop of San Francisco on the morning of Sept. 8, 1962, Joseph T. McGucken announced that we would build a new cathedral. The moment was providential. There was a spirit of confident optimism in the air: parishes and schools were being built, seminaries and novitiates were overflowing, “Good Pope John” was admired and loved by the whole world, and for the first time in history a Catholic was living in the White House. One month after this announcement, the new archbishop went to Rome for the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The first document approved by the council fathers was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, and the Catholic Church of San Francisco had the opportunity to build the first cathedral in the United States inspired by the liturgical vision of the council. Three local architects were appointed to undertake the design of the new St. Mary’s Cathedral. Paul Ryan, Angus McSweeney and John Michael Lee went to work, but their plans (constrained by the long, narrow site of the old cathedral) were rather tame. Voices were raised (both within and outside the Catholic community) that the times called for something more daring. The archbishop listened to these voices and invited Pietro Belluschi in as a consulting architect. Belluschi was reluctant to accept. He had designed small churches and synagogues, but never a cathedral for a major city … and a city prone to earthquakes. He acquiesced, and Archbishop McGucken asked him for three things: 1. The cathedral should accommodate a large number of people; 2. It should be designed in such a way that this large community would feel closely connected to Eucharistic celebration at the altar; 3. The building should proclaim the presence of a living Christian community worshipping in the midst of the modern city. ›
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1962, Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken gives an address in the ruins of the old cathedral building at Van Ness Avenue and O’Farrell Street.
