Ministry Cancels Land Deal for Catholic School

A ministry that wants to build a 175-acre retreat in south Orange County is backing out of a deal to sell a piece of the property to a private Christian high school because all religious instruction would be taught by Roman Catholics.

Rancho Capistrano Ministries said Junipero Serra High School’s relationship with the Catholic Diocese of Orange is incompatible with earlier agreements to include the ministry in religious instruction.

The high school would have excluded non-Catholic instructors from teaching religion at the San Juan Capistrano campus, a spokesman for the ministries said.

“The only reason the ministries had any interest in this at all was because this was to be a Christian school that would teach religion, including the ministries itself,” said Rancho Capistrano attorney Tom Pistone.

Pistone said the two sides were unable to agree on other issues, including school boundaries, parking issues and whether the Junipero Serra group would be able to build elsewhere on the ministries’ mostly undeveloped compound off Interstate 5.

But, he said, the exclusion of the ministries from religious instruction is what “soured the deal.”

Boosters for Junipero Serra--who say they’ve raised $10 million for the school and have worked feverishly on being ready to enroll students by fall 2002--said they were caught off guard by the announcement.

“They’ve known about our agreement with the diocese for months,” said Tim Busch, who chairs the board of directors for Junipero Serra High School. “Whatever the diocese required of us to be involved with them, they [the ministries] said they would agree to.”

The ministry, which is run by the son of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, intends to build a sprawling Christian center on the grassy acreage, which was donated to Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral by Newport Beach businessman John Crean two decades ago.

In addition to a high school, the ministry plans call for a wellness center, senior housing, a health complex and a crematory. Residents who live along the ridge above the land have already expressed concern about the plan for cremations.

The high school was to be built on 35 acres and include an Olympic-quality aquatics center, an eight-court tennis complex, a 600-seat theater, a football stadium and athletic fields. School boosters had expected to pay $70 million for the land and school construction.

Junipero Serra officials said they learned of the ministries’ decision in a letter last week. Busch said the school won’t abandon its plan without a fight and is considering legal action.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, the school’s board of directors accused the ministries of pulling the plug on the sale to pursue negotiations with Capistrano Unified School District, which has been eyeing the land for a middle school.