Sunshine Cathedral Blog

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor

Question: How can we be a Cathedral since we don’t have a bishop?

Answer: When I first arrived here, we had at least two people who claimed to be bishops in independent (non-Roman) Catholic communities. But I take your point: historically, a cathedral houses the cathedra, the bishop’s chair (or “throne”). I am the pastor of Sunshine Cathedral, but I am not a bishop, nor will I ever be a bishop in Metropolitan Community Churches, because MCC does not have bishops. We have elders and pastors and lay leaders, and we affirm the priesthood of all believers. If I were to become a bishop in some other organization, that would have nothing to do with my being the pastor of Sunshine Cathedral. My credentials that allow me to serve this congregation come from MCC. There are bishops for whom I have a great deal of respect; but they are not part of MCC’s structure.

Now, more important than housing a piece of furniture, a cathedral has often been a place of pilgrimage, where people would come for inspiration. Cathedrals have been learning centers, and places of community gathering. Cathedrals have also allowed larger numbers of people to worship together, and they have attempted to resource other parishes within a diocese. Just as MCC doesn’t have bishops, we also don’t have dioceses. But we do have regions and area clusters and relationships with schools and churches and individuals covering a great deal of geography.

Primarily, we are a cathedral because we say we are! It is our name, and it is how we operate. We do have space for large crowds to gather. We do try to provide inspiration and motivation, and travelers do come from all over the world to worship with us. We are a learning center, and we do provide spiritual resources to churches, small groups, and individuals all over the world. We are clearly a “psychological cathedral” and even if our polity doesn’t provide for bishops and dioceses, we remain in the best sense all that a cathedral is meant to be.