Thread: Bishops' Grooming Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
As a light counterpart to the Grooming Bishops thread over in Purg, who is the best turned out Bishop- or other senior church leader- that you know? Descriptions and/or photographs to support, please!
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Of the current crop: Martin Warner Bishop of Chichester.

Beautiful cassocks (Gammarelli, of course) and the widest cinctures. His purple is a good colour, and his black with red piping is also good.

Always on time, the other thing to notice is his shoes - properly polished.
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
This is more an observation on how some people seem to look more "episcopal" than others; our previous Bishop never really looked quite at home in the mitre (possibly because the one he was enthroned with was too big for him, and threatened to slide down and land on his nose).

A former Bishop of Connor in the Church of Ireland (where they wear rochet and chimere rather than cope and mitre) was nicknamed "Bishop Bud" by one of the tenors in the Cathedral choir, because he reckoned he looked like a tin of Budweiser ...

Having said that, he really enjoyed being a bishop, and it showed in his general demeanour.
 

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Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Piglet:
This is more an observation on how some people seem to look more "episcopal" than others; our previous Bishop never really looked quite at home in the mitre (possibly because the one he was enthroned with was too big for him, and threatened to slide down and land on his nose).

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Clearly they should take head measurements of prospective candidates as part of the selection process ... Mind you, you can imagine what would be said if news of that got out: "Canon X was disqualified from being Bishop because s/he was too big-headed" ...
 

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Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
Or because his head wasn't big enough
 

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Posted by Earwig (# 12057) on :
 
A previous Bishop in an area near me was known as Bobby Big-hat... apparently he had the largest mitre in the CofE.

A second for Martin Warner, he was always well turned out as our Bishop of Whitby too.
 

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Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on :
 
This is not specifically a comment on a well-turned-out Bishop but rather in response to Piglet's comment about the former Bishop who did not look comfortable in the mitre, as I think that is the same gentleman who stars in my one Bishop-spotting story:

Being neither Anglican nor Catholic my experience of Bishops is very limited, which is the occasion for this slight misunderstanding. I was invited to attend an Anglican event at which I did know know many people, so sat outside in my car in the parking lot waiting for someone I knew to pull up so I could go in with them, idly gazing at the other attendees as they got out of their cars and into the building. It was no doubt my lack of familiarity with seeing male clergy in robes and regalia that caused me to have the knee-jerk reaction, "Oh my goodness! Who is that old woman with the bad perm in the garish floor-length purple dress??"

Of course when "she" turned a few degrees in my direction and I caught a better glimpse of the face, I realized it was not a woman but, in fact, the bishop. No mitre was involved at the time; I'm not sure whether that would have helped me identify him sooner or not. Perhaps I would have thought he was going to a costume party.
 

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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
Reminds me of the apocryphal story about the British Foreign Secretary George Brown and the Archbishop of Lima
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
... "Oh my goodness! Who is that old woman with the bad perm in the garish floor-length purple dress??" ...

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Actually from that description I think you mean his predecessor, who has a full head of silvery-grey curls and could be mistaken from the back for a member of the Blue Rinse Brigade. D. used to reckon he was the male incarnation of a Lady Of A Certain Age in our previous choir.
 

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Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on :
 
Yes, that sounds like the same one.
 

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Posted by Magersfontein Lugg (# 18240) on :
 
I am sometimes at how scruffy some (male) bishops have their hair. Some C of E ones let the side down in this area!
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I think I remember reading in Aubrey - though I can't trace the reference at the moment - a remark to the effect that senior clergy before the are formation tended to be close-shaven. But post-reformation bishops favoured 'great bush beards' - presumably like this chap.
 

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Posted by Barefoot Friar (# 13100) on :
 
We Methodists don't dress our bishops very well at all, I'm afraid. When vested for services, the majority of them look like judges in traffic court, with the exception of having a stole of some sort -- which is exactly how most of the presbyters vest. There are a growing number who choose alb over Geneva gown, but the Geneva gown is still the default. And so few of us wear clericals that when not vested for worship most of our bishops are in a business suit.

I rather fancy a bishop to look like a bishop. I fear, though, that if a Methodist bishop were to attempt to wear the standard Anglican or Catholic episcopal vestments or clericals, he or she would be laughed at.
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Now we have a female bishop this subject assumes a whole new dimension.

Perhaps a stylist should be appointed before the next female appointee is announced?
 

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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
IM (limited) E male clergy are more likely to be 'well groomed' than female clergy. But that is only my experience and I think that among the clergy, as among the laity, the really well turned out are a minority. (I pass no judgement here: I can be pretty scruffy myself.)
 

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Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :
 
That's surely because clerical dress was originally designed for men, so women tend to look uncomfortable in it. Especially if they are middle-aged, because they tend to have a different shape from middle-aged men!
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
Clergy cassocks are made-to-measure and those for females are constructed in such a way as to accommodate those physiological differences (in other words they have darts at the bust) that would otherwise make them look less than brilliant.

Now the other parts of clerical dress - specifically the shirts, collars, etc - is where many female clergy have problems.
 

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Posted by Pomona (# 17175) on :
 
Rev Sally Hitchiner, along with her many other talents, is very sleek and stylish.
 

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Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
... the shirts, collars, etc - is where many female clergy have problems.

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quote:

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Originally posted by L'organist:
Now we have a female bishop this subject assumes a whole new dimension.

Perhaps a stylist should be appointed before the next female appointee is announced?

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