The church has filed for bankruptcy and “owes about $7.5 million to unsecured creditors, many of whom are vendors for the cathedral’s ‘Glory of Christmas’ pageant.”
The demise of the church follows a long-standing fight with his daughters — another bizarre case of a religious institution run like a family business. In this case, Schuller found himself at odds with his daughters who seem to have created a modern King Lear for the televangelist world. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is To have a thankless child!” (King Lear, 1.4.312)
While Schuller designated his son to take over the church, the son was tossed out by his sisters and Sheila Schuller Coleman took control of the ministry. One of the issues was the son’s opposition to changing the church’s format and Coleman’s insistence that choir members sign a covenant acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and the belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Her father opposed the pledge and has long been welcoming to all in the church. Schuller’s daughter, Carol Schuller Milner, supported her sister and they forced removal of her father.
As was said in King Lear: “Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend, More hideous, when thou show’st thee in a child,Than the sea-monster.”
Source: OC Register