Cardinal Mahony should sell the “Raj Mahal” to pay for abuse settlements

The biggest eyesore in Los Angeles is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angeles, a modernist monstrosity of the worst sort. It cost $200 million to build and often is called the “Raj Mahal,” after the grandiose designs of Cardinal Roger Mahony. (Although the Taj Mahal, the one in India, at least is exquisitely beautiful.)

Mahony has agreed to pay out $660 million in the abuse settlement case — of which the diocese actually will have to pay only $250 million from its own funds. The cathedral cost about $200 million by the time it was opened in 2002. With real estate prices rising since then, it could be sold for a lot more than that now.

After the sale, Mahony could make a large parish his cathedral until he retires in a few years. After that, his successor — whom one hopes will have better artistic taste — could build a new cathedral on a more modest scale.