The last few years there has been a rash of reality shows in which the old and/or ugly something is renovated, fixed-up or slimmed down for the great reveal.

The have done this to ugly people, obese people, houses and even restaurants. We may need to add a cathedral to the list.

The Crystal Cathedral is a large protestant Church in Garden Grove, Calif., built by Robert Schuller to house his once thriving ministry. Lately however, the ministry has fallen on hard times and declared bankruptcy last year.

Enter the Roman Catholic diocese of Orange, California. In what I am sure they perceive as a very pragmatic move, since they are in need of a cathedral, they have offered $50 million for the building.  There is only one problem ... This ...

Catholic worship in a place like this? The seat of a bishop in a place like this? Sheesh. I am all for pragmatic solutions, but how do you establish any sense of Catholicity in a place like that? My thoughts are summed up very nicely by someone named Claire. Using the Crystal Cathedral for Catholic worship is like “casting Kim Kardashian to play Mother Teresa.” Yeah.

I know that there are probably many modern churches that are way uglier than this, and I know that it is the liturgy that really matters, but come on! The church building itself is supposed to remind us of heavenly realities.

This is why we need an extreme makeover team to find some way of making this monstrosity passably Catholic. Giant curtains maybe?

I appreciate what the diocese of Orange is trying to do, but $50 mill is a lot for something so ugly. But maybe somebody much cleverer than I can find a way to make it work. I hope so.