If I was to go to confession

I would confess my sins at the Cathedral of Christ the Light. The confession area built into a niche on the inside wall blends in with all the cozy little chapels of the apostles. The separation of parishioner from priest is made of blockss of wood stacked like Jenga pieces forming a screen, the semicircle shaped chairs are made in the same style. The confessor and the listener have separate entrances. A large stone vase of flowers along with the honey colored wood and natural light gives the concrete den a sense of warmth.

The confessional is a good represenation of the Cathedral as a whole, beautiful in its simplicity, bathed in soft sunlight, unique in design and most of all welcoming. Watching the Cathedral rise on the shores of Lake Merritt over the last few years I heard very few words of approval or excitement over it's design. Now that it's finished it's exactly what a modern Cathedral should be. 120 feet of glass exterior let the California sun shine in filtered through wooden loubers to illuminate the large open space inside. The concentric circles of wood pews are well spaced and provide space where matching chairs can be inserted or removed as needed. The stone altar is flanked by a stone bench on one side which includes a black granite chair for the bishop. and on the other seating for the choir. The Cathedral shakes off any preconceived notion of what a church should look like. The unique design gives Oakland's diverse community a place to come together that is not shadowed by any one culture's history. Health and legal clinics to serve the uninsured and underprivilieged, meeting spaces available to any community group, a healing garden, a cafe add to the concept that this a new Cathedral dedicated to serving the East Bay in a new way. The natural materials used in construction, the natural light for the main worship space, and using native, drought resistant plants in landscaping also show a concern for being environmentally responsible and support an issue that is very important to people in Northern California.

It's quite obvious a lot of thought went into designing and constructing a Cathedral appropriate to the location and serving the populace of Oakland. The Cathedral of Christ the Light sets a new standard of what a Cathedral can be and I'm very proud that it was built here in Oakland.