So the Reagan funeral was held at the national cathedral… whaa? Please excuse my inorance, but is this some official designation? I feel a little uneasy to keep hearing the place refered to as such.
The name of the cathedral is The Washington National Catherdral. It is ‘National’ insofar as it is the National Cathedral for the Episcopal Church. It has nothing to do with the Federal government.
And yes, I was christened there when I was a baby.
I beleive it also has the largest seating capacity of any church (or at least any Protestant church) in D.C. That makes it useful for things like state funerals.
Here is the link. You might have to wait a while it appears to be very busy and slow right now.
This link tells some of the history.
And though it’s Episcopal in denomination, in practice the Church is pretty open about it - it’s used for a lot of services when a large crowd is expected. It gets used for a lot of funerals of big Washington types, whether or not that person belonged to the church.
And if you go over to Catholic U., you can visit the National Shrine, where they will be sure to ask you for donations that include your name and address.
Any church? It’s the 2nd largest cathedral in the US, after St. John the Divine in NYC (also Episcopalian).
We also have a National Car Rental, but that it doesn’t mean that the company is sponsored by the government.
Oh yeah? Well explain National Cash Register to me, if you can!
Yes, although it technically is an Episcopalian seat, it is intended to be used as a place for the nation. I don’t remember exactly how they put it, but that’s the idea. You might remember that the service after 9/11 was held there. It really is an impressive cathedral. It’s pure stone (that is, no structural steel), though of course with modern engineering behind it, and something like the fifth-largest cathedral in the world. They had a bit of it on NPR this morning, but I was kinda groggy when it was on.
If you’ve never been there, I suggest you put it on the list if you make it to DC. It’s less of a tourist attraction, which is nice, and it really is impressive.
Yeah, but if I found out that they were the one that the government rented all of its cars from I would be a bit suspicous.
Thanks for the answers guys.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned that you could (supposedly - can anyone confirm this?) lay the Washington Monument on its side inside the National Cathedral.
DC Police would probably stop you before you got to far with that idea.
Well, this site says that “[it] is 514 feet long nearly equal in length to the height of the Washington Monument”, but I too have laways heard what you said.
Interior length of National Cathedral: 457ft 8in.
Height of Washington Monument: 555ft 5.125in
So, the answer’s no.
There’s a joke involving Freud and the First Amendment in this statement somewhere, but it is for minds far greater than mine.
Normally yes, but it has a headache.
I’m surprised that no one beat me in mentioning that the National Cathedral has a Darth Vader gargoyle :
What’s the big deal? It’s not like we have state funerals every weekend. There can’t be very many churches in DC big enough to handle that kind of thing.