My Experience at the ‘Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience’

After a forty five minute drive and lighter than usual traffic, we arrived 30 minutes early to Garden Grove California to what I have dubbed, 'Catholic Disneyland’. Parking at the Christ Cathedral campus was easy as there were many spots to choose from. We parked close to the giant ‘Tower of Hope’ which stands out at the edge of the parking lot. A remnant of the once evangelical Crystal Cathedral, the whole complex has been restored, modernized and exquisitely updated. The grounds are immaculate, well manicured and it’s unmistakable that the grounds keepers and plant managers are perfectionists. Their attention to detail and the obvious financial backing from many generous benefactors has made the campus worthy of the name,‘Catholic Disneyland’. Not to mention that it is only ten minutes away from actual Disneyland. 

Our scheduled immersion into the Shroud of Turin: An immersive Experience was still 20 minutes away so we took it upon ourselves to investigate the cathedral. As we approached several automated  glass doors there was a sign by one that said, ‘Baptistery’. We pushed a button and the doors opened up to a large circular room. The paschal candle and the giant, full immersion cruciform baptismal font jutted up from the marble floor at the center. From a dome above, those being baptized were also being evangelized with the words from Christ in Matthew’s gospel, the Great Commissioning, ‘Go and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’ encircling the scene below. 

We then entered the church and there were many families milling around either waiting for baptisms to begin or having concluded. The interior of Christ Cathedral is awesome. It feels like walking into a glistening diamond. A large plus sign shaped crucifix is suspended over the altar. We followed the brass, close-up reliefs of the stations of the cross along the back wall to the opposite end to another circular room where the tabernacle is housed. After a short prayer we walked out to the plaza where we explored the gardens and the brass statues of the Prodigal Son, Moses, and Jesus walking on water in the middle of a shallow reflection pond. 

We made a beeline for the cultural center and noticed the gift shop which we planned to hit on the way out. We were greeted outside by the guide and taken up an elevator to the 2nd floor of the building. As we entered we were greeted at the desk and checked in. We had a few minutes to look around the lobby at a life size replica of the Shroud and a mini sculpture of Jesus as he laid in the shroud. This was the first hands-on part of the day as we were able to fold half of a small replica shroud over his body. This helped visitors who are unfamiliar with the burial customs of 1st century Judaism to grasp the concept of a burial shroud. 

Along with a small group of other visitors, we then entered the first room which was a video explanation of what the shroud is along with a few multiple choice shroud trivia questions. Then we entered a room with several chairs that swivel around 360 degrees which was a good thing since a video began to play on each of the walls as well as the floor which covered the key points of Jesus’ life from birth to baptism to transfiguration to the last supper to his death and burial. During the Last Supper we were surrounded by Jesus and the 12 hungry Apostles. I looked down on the ground and realized that we were on the Seder table along with the Passover lamb, the other foods and the bread and wine! Not gonna lie, to be served up along with the lamb was kinda unnerving but also fun. In this entire video immersion experience we were given a comprehensive context for the Shroud of Turin as something which wrapped the whole life of Jesus. 

As we were guided into the next room I sensed that the adventure was reaching a climactic moment. Like a scene from Indiana Jones, we were then led into the torch-lit, replica burial cave where we sat behind a stone slab on which the 3D shape of the body of Christ was laid. An actual shroud covered the 'body' in front of us as the story of his burial and resurrection was told on the video surrounding us. I don’t want to spoil it so let’s just say we ‘experienced the burst of light of the resurrection’ and ‘witnessed the body escape the shroud’. It was pretty cool.

After this we were led into a state of the art, hands-on museum featuring kiosks which answered questions and showed the various markings on the Shroud and how they overlapped. Replicas of the flagrum, the spear, the crown of thorns and the nails were displayed over individual illuminated cubes. There were sections that explained in detail the various aspects of the shroud and resurrection event. On one of the displays visitors could touch the linen and feel the threads that formed the pattern of the herringbone weave. One of the things I learned about the Shroud of Turin was that it corresponded to the linen vestments of the Old Testament High Priest. This detail helped me to understand that Jesus in his death and resurrection and especially his ascension was acting as a High priest of the New Covenant.

The entire experience lasted about 90 minutes. For someone who has studied the Shroud extensively, who owns a life size replica and who teaches about it, I noticed how thorough and how evangelistic and catechetical the experience was from a shared Catholic perspective. The threads of the history, science and the theology of the Shroud of Turin were woven together seamlessly and as artfully as the herringbone weave. It was introductory and evangelistic but at the same time it was complex and scientific. Afterwards we stopped at the gift shop and made a few purchases then went to grab lunch ten minutes away at Downtown Disney.  If you’re in the area or even if it’s a drive, I enthusiastically recommend taking the time to enjoy the spectacular Christ Cathedral and campus grounds and then enter the full immersion into all things Shroud of Turin. Tickets were only $20. You will not be disappointed.