"'A true cathedral has no congregation.' Well, I have five," said the Very Rev. Ernesto Medina of the people who claim residence at Los Angeles' tropical-white Cathedral Center of St. Paul. He enumerated: "St. Athanasius, St. Nicholas, the staff, the diocese, program groups. They're not guests; they all have ownership of the center." On a Sunday morning with a Spanish Eucharist at 8:30, an English service at 10:15, St. Nicholas' Mission's Korean celebration at 2 p.m., "I say good-bye in Spanish, hello in English, good-bye in English, hello in Korean." Fr. Medina is the provost, with pastoral charge over St. Athanasius' parish with its Hispanic and Anglo members, and oversight of the mission. "The rector is the bishop."

The third congregation, the bishop's staff, meets as a community on Thursdays; the diocese and various groups hold celebrations and events. "It's your cathedral," he tells all. "There is ownership from various constituencies. We walk it together."

The congregation of St. Athanasius is the oldest. The first Episcopal parish in Southern California, it dates from 1864. The building itself dates only from 1994. An editorial in the Nov. 7, 1994, Los Angeles Times spoke of the decisions faced by the bishop, the Rt. Rev. Frederick Borsch: "Diocesan House, the Episcopal administrative center on West 4th Street near the Harbor Freeway, had been sold to a developer. St. Paul's, the downtown cathedral, had stood severely damaged since the Sylmar earthquake of 1971; the cost of repair was prohibitive." Eventually the building was demolished. As the diocese includes six counties ("all Southern California except San Diego") there was plenty of suburban real estate to choose from. "Instead, Bishop Borsch opted to build a new cathedral on the site of the St. Athanasius and St. Paul Church in Echo Park ... five minutes from City Hall and the skyscrapers of downtown."

The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, former dean and now bishop coadjutor of the diocese, said, "At that time Echo Park had 18 gangs within a three-mile radius. It had urban blight." But he and his wife, Mary, knew that was where they wanted to be. "We decided to minister to the neighborhood." Today, one of the agencies hosted by the center is a high school for students who have had trouble in other schools. "We have four grades in one room. We have 12 gangs represented here. And we are graffiti-free."

Senior warden Alexander Moore lives in the Echo Park neighborhood and chose to join St. Paul's because it is "purposely in the heart of Los Angeles. Echo Park was a gracious Victorian neighborhood; later it became a sort of 'communist neighborhood,' home to many of the black-listed writers," during the McCarthy era. Now Mr. Moore enjoys the "social, economic, ethnic mix, the comparative harmony. It's a low-crime area." St. Paul's has some fascinating religious companions, too. Around the lake are Methodist and Roman Catholic churches, scientologists, and the Angelus Temple of the Foursquare Gospel Church founded by Aimee Semple McPherson. Diocesan communications director Bob Williams said, "She had clotheslines to pin the bills to. She didn't want to hear change rattling."

The park itself sometimes becomes part of the church. "On Good Friday," Fr. Medina said, "we had the stations of the cross around the lake. We had three presiders: the priest, the musicians, and the congregation. Each morphed in and out of the presiding role, and each was responsible to empower the worship of the other two. People took turns carrying a huge cross. We'd stop [along the path] and read. People know about this and come along. Five grew to 100."

As much a part of the center as the square Spanish towers, Rene Barraza has served as junior and senior warden, and now as sexton. He and his wife, after rearing four children, moved into an apartment in the unfinished building in 1994. "I was afraid at first," he said. "What can a lay person do with all those priests? But now I am comfortable. And I worried about 'church language.' It's not in my line. But now my spiritual life is growing and growing, every day.

"At first there were problems in the neighborhood, gangs on Laguna Street. The neighborhood has gotten much better. There's light around the block. The students in the school have developed pride in it.

"I'm 58 years old, and I learn every day, and help people. I will be there as long as God lets me."

Music director David Schnell finds the Cathedral Center a stimulating place to work. "Ernie has exciting ideas," Mr. Schnell said. "He's moved things around; he has a different way to visualize." The choir, which had sung from the balcony, is downstairs. The chairs have been turned so "everyone faces the courtyard now, instead of a blank wall.

"From Epiphany 'til Shrove Tuesday, we had hundreds of gold foil stars suspended from the ceiling. In the sun and the air, they moved and shone. When Lent began, the stars were gone and the stained-glass stations went up."

Mr. Barraza said, "Ernie tries to be equal to Spanish and English. He wants to have a Korean service for all of us, so we can feel like they do, not understanding the words."

One of the Cathedral Center's strongest ministries in the neighborhood is the Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union. Director Urla Gomes-Price told of its beginnings. "In 1992, just after the South Central riots, the national church sent funds for the community to the diocese. Dr. Gloria Brown, an advocate for the poor who came from the national church to assist, had dreamed of a credit union for people shut out of traditional banking services." Volunteers came from parishes all over the diocese, and in 1994 the credit union received its federal charter.

"It is a low-income credit union, with shares and loans. The 'haves' make deposits so we can make loans to the 'have-nots.' The poor often have no credit, at least at non-usurious rates. Many of our members used pawn shops, at 30 percent interest."

For a membership fee of $5 and a minimum deposit of $25, anyone who participates in any diocesan service or program can become a member. Members can establish credit and savings accounts, secure a loan, send money by wire to El Salvador or Guatemala. Every member is offered credit and budget counseling. Small business loans have financed daycare centers and park vendors selling fruit, jewelry, ceramics.

"We have low delinquency rates due to the relationships we have with people."

Last December, in reaction to a disaster just a block from the cathedral, "we lived the dream of the center," Fr. Medina recalled. The communities came together.

When the apartment building down the block collapsed, "there was just one person on site. It was the day after convention and everybody was off [TLC, Jan. 14]. I saw it on TV. I jumped in the car; on the way I called the Red Cross. The bishop's staff came in; we met with the police and fire department."

David Schnell said, "The two-story building looked like an earthquake had hit. The kids had left for school; one man was killed but there were no other serious injuries."

What was most difficult was locating the tenants. Some were "here not under the most legal of circumstances," and were hiding, afraid of the authorities. "We have people who speak the languages, and they combed the area, saying 'We are not the government; we're here to help.' It took awhile for people to trust."

The building became a chaplaincy and a Red Cross center. "We do food service anyway; then we cooked for the displaced -- three meals a day for 100 people, for two weeks. We used one parking level under the building for supplies to give out -- clothes, household supplies. They went quickly."

"The fire department told residents they couldn't go in, that the building was a total loss. We worked it out so families, supervised by the fire department, could go in for some possessions" before the building was torn down, the provost said. "At a dinner, we prepared people for their last time. They would never live there again. We had a burial rite before it was destroyed."

Bishop Borsch said, at the consecration of the Cathedral Center, the 21st century understanding of a cathedral "is resonant with the life of a cathedral of old ... a place of worship, prayer, service and hospitality ... It is the people who are and will be the living stones of this cathedral ... for and in this neighborhood and well beyond as from the heart of the diocese." Provost Medina and all the people of his five congregations are proving a strong "prophetic voice" in the city and the Diocese of Los Angeles.