April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Houston's newest addition to downtown isn't another skyscraper. It's a $50 million cathedral for an archdiocese whose diversity may offer a glimpse of Roman Catholicism's future in the U.S.

The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, being dedicated today, was inspired by the Italian Romanesque style. Its ceiling soaring 72 feet (22 meters), stained glass windows and wooden statues project a sense of tradition in a city that usually doesn't cling to history. The church will offer weekly masses in Spanish and Vietnamese, as well as English.

Immigrants and new residents are bolstering Houston's Catholic population, making a new cathedral possible even as northern U.S. cities lose church members. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston estimates that the number of its parishioners has doubled since 1992 to at least 1.3 million. The heritage of the cathedral's parish is about 30 percent Hispanic, 20 percent Asian and 10 percent African.

``The faces you see in American Catholic congregations over the next 20 years are going to look increasingly more heterogeneous,'' said D. Michael Lindsay, professor of sociology at Houston's Rice University. ``Houston is at the vanguard of that change because we have more of that racial and ethnic diversity than many other places do.''

The Catholic Church in the U.S. has weathered clergy sexual-abuse scandals in the past 20 years. The total cost exceeded $2 billion, according to Jason Berry, a journalist who wrote the 1992 book, ``Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children.'' Now the church is trying to raise attendance and stop an exodus of members.

Bible Belt

Almost one in three Americans, or 31 percent, were raised in the Catholic faith, while today fewer than one in four, 24 percent, describe themselves as Catholic, according to a survey released in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Houston often is associated with the American Bible Belt, known for fundamental Protestantism. The nondenominational Lakewood Church attracts about 45,000 people a week to its Christian services, more than the capacity at Minute Maid Park, where the professional Houston Astros play baseball. The city was the site of John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech to Protestant ministers to dispel concerns about his Catholic faith.

Texas also is known for its 300-year-old former Catholic missions in the San Antonio area, including the Alamo. Houston has strong Catholic and Jewish traditions because of the historical role of Galveston as an entry port, said Lindsay, who wrote ``Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite'' (Oxford University Press, 352 pages, $24.95).

Cardinal Appointed

The Diocese of Galveston was created in 1847. Houston's name was attached in 1959. Galveston-Houston was elevated to an archdiocese in 2004, meaning it oversees smaller dioceses.

The appointment last year of Archbishop Daniel DiNardo as the city's first cardinal cemented Houston's rise in the Catholic Church. Cardinals, known for their red hats, are the clergy who elect popes.

Having a cardinal and a new cathedral is ``testament to the meteoric rise of the Catholic Church in that part of the United States,'' said Matthew Bunson, general editor of the ``Catholic Almanac,'' published by Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic nonprofit organization based in Huntington, Indiana.

The Catholic population in the Boston archdiocese declined 10 percent from 1978 to 2007, while the Detroit region's fell 6.7 percent, according to Bunson.

Parishes Decline

The number of parishes in the U.S. dropped 3.6 percent from 1995 to 2007, and the student population in Catholic elementary schools fell 15 percent, according to the Washington-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

Houston is the first major U.S. city to build a Catholic cathedral since Los Angeles in 2002. Another is being built in Oakland, California. The Houston cathedral's construction began in 2005 and was paid for by a capital campaign started almost a decade ago that the archdiocese won't discuss.

A church that was under construction in Galveston when the diocese was formed became a cathedral, so Houston's new building is known as a co-cathedral. Both cities are considered the cardinal's seat, although his main office is in Houston.

Houston's skyline of glass and steel skyscrapers hovers behind the new cathedral, made of bright white Indiana limestone. The 37,000-square-foot (3,437-square-meter) building has a 135-foot copper dome topped with a cross covered in gold leaf. A separate tower, 140 feet tall, houses 23 bells.

Retail to Religion

Statues of Jesus and Mary are made of white Carrara marble, the same material used by Michelangelo for his depiction of David. A 40-foot stained-glass window of a risen Jesus marks the main entrance.

The cathedral, seating 1,820, advances the city's push for a diverse downtown with everything from retail to religion, said Bob Eury, president of Central Houston, a nonprofit business- support group.

``To have that incredible reinvestment, reinvigoration, new energy come back in with the new building is just amazing,'' Eury said.

Catholic leaders say they hope the new building will raise Houston's profile. Rice's Lindsay said the Vatican, where the Catholic Church is based, recognizes the growing importance of Houston and its diversity. So does James Buri, a parishioner at the Houston cathedral.

``You're in a church with people that look different than you do and gives you the good aspect of the universal nature of the church,'' said Buri, 55. ``It's more of a microcosm of the church worldwide.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Klump in Houston at eklump@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 2, 2008 01:01 EDT