Saturday, February 18, 2006

This Gives New Meaning To the Phrase "Eating Your Hat"


On 2 February, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor of Westminster ordained his vicar-general and chancellor, John Arnold, as his auxiliary bishop.

Arnold, 52, has an impressive resume, which Cormac’s patronage hasn’t hurt one bit. The new bishop received his undergraduate education at Oxford, was a barrister (that’s British for "lawyer") for some years before entering the seminary, earned his JCD in Rome after ordination and became vicar-general of the primatial see of England and Wales at 48.

Not bad, not bad at all.

So at Bishop John’s post-ordination party, the cake was brought out. As you see, a mitre and zucchetto were impeccably rendered in sugar.

Now, mitres and zucchettos have made church queens salivate since before the time of Christ, but this is something completely different.

(And note the good Cardinal hustling through the crowd in the background....)

-30-