If you ever find yourself in Las Vegas committing the seven deadly sins and you feel the need to confess, two nearby Churches stand ready to hear you.
Built in 1991, the Shrine of the Holy Redeemer is across from the Luxor and next to the Tropicana. It is the younger sister of the Guardian Angel Cathedral.
Built in 1976, the original mission of the Guardian Angel Cathedral was an outreach to casino workers. It is just north of the Encore, Steve Wynn’s newest creation.
The McCluskey family, visiting from Northern Ireland, tells the Los Angeles Times that since the parents attend mass daily at home, they make the half-mile walk from Treasure Island.
Confession is heard every day before Mass except for Sunday. Father Lawrence Lentz, rector of the Guardian Angel, said that people “often share with him their indulgence in the various sins for which Vegas is known including the overconsumption of alcohol and prostitution.”
When the collection is counted, Father Lentz said that it’s not unusual to find chips and cash-out slips from the casinos. Some worshipers have even thrown in several $100 bills into an envelope.
The cathedral and the adjoining offices sit on a valuable parcel of land. When he was building the Encore, Wynn offered to buy the land and build a new cathedral and relocate the offices elsewhere so he can raze the buildings and build a parking garage.
However, when Wynn was told that the request would have to be sent to Rome for the pope’s consideration, he decided to build the garage on a property he already owned.
Lentz thinks “that’s one of the reasons that it’s so important to the bishop that we maintain ourselves here amidst everything else on the Strip — to be that sign, to be that haven, that oasis — amid all of this cacophony.”
He adds that the location makes his job easier because he doesn’t have to go very far for customers.
