The Archbishop's New Vestments

.
Damian has blogged here about the new vestments commissioned for Archbishop Nichols' installation at Westminster.

They look really good. They also look really Byzantine.

That's good, as Westminster Cathedral is Byzantine in inspiration, so the new vestments will "go", in a way that new vestments have probably not "gone" in any Catholic Cathedral in England and Wales these many years.

There is also, however, a gentle hint from the Archbishop that he is aligning himself with the Pope's version of ecumenism: that our closeness to the Orthodox, whatever the snipings and shoutings of the last thousand years or so, is so much more real than any possible description of any sort of relationship with any of the Protestant churches.

It is very unlikely that anybody will like everything that Archbishop Nichols does, but this is a good sign. On behalf of "The Catholic Association of Catholic Catholics for Catholic Catholicsm", I renew my request for plentiful prayers for His Grace as he takes on this charge, and offer as the toast the motto of The Catholic Association of Catholic Catholics for Catholic Catholicsm: "more power to his elbow".

(Dull rumour of chairs scraping along the floor as men stand. Just about pick out: "The Queen"; "The Duke of Lancaster"; "More Power to his Elbow"; "Gentlemen, you may now smoke"; dull rumour of chairs scraping along the floor as men sit.)