It does seem strange that there would be some kind of separation between a diocese and the cathedral which is the very seat of the bishop. The cathedral is more the heart of the diocese than any other institution within it, and if the cathedral doesn't have the diocesan arms mounted and displayed somewhere, I will be surprised. On the other hand, there's so much fussy detail about heraldry, I wouldn't be surprised whatever the actual protocol is.

It might be worthwhile to take your question to an expert on heraldry, if you can find one.

If you do have to limit your use of the diocesan arms, perhaps it would be appropriate to use the bishop's personal coat of arms in cathedral programs.

I think it is astonishing that anyone would question the cathedral's display of the diocesan arms. Rather than being prohibited, its display should be presumed. It is, after all, the very seat of the bishop. Its display by any other church than the cathedral would certainly be inappropriate.

On the other hand, all diocesan service folders at Walsingham (for ordinations, etc.) display the ordinariate (diocesan) arms, not Bishop Lopes's personal arms, which are different. Perhaps this distinction is at the root of your objections.

A herald only designs arms.
I don't think that he would have an answer to your dilemma.
Your diocesan arms should be legitimately displayed on any official diocesan document - which a cathedral service folder certainly is.
I think that you are being given specious information regarding the valid use of your diocesan arms.

Is this in a place where there are laws concerning the use of heraldry? The UK?

Or a place where arms are legally protected like trade marks? That's true here (Canada) but you have to pay extra. Much like any other trade mark.

Otherwise it is basically a corporate branding issue. Follow the organisation's rules, they define what "valid use" is. If they don't have any, you can do what you please. That's why you can buy "coat of arms of your family" on the internet-- it means nothing.

The diocesan crest is currently being used as the Cathedral logo at my former cathedral. What we reserved for this bishops presence was his crest. Are you a CRCCM member? If you are, we have an archive of programs from across the country in the member area and I think you’d find the diocesan crest often used.

A Cathedral is a building, it accomodates diocesan services and parish services. The Cathedral parish has no more right (and no less) to use the diocesan coat of arms than does any other parish. That's England and Catholic, other countries and denominations may have different legal structures. I have been active in two Metropolitan cathedral parishes, but I never saw myself as having a diocesan function. When I was a member of the parish liturgy committee, we organised the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, but had nothing whatsoever to do with the Chrism Mass which had taken place earlier in the same space on the same day.
Of course sacristans, organists and clergy may well have been engaged in both services.

Hawkins,

Let me rephrase.
The Cathedral is the bishop's parish because it's where the bishop's seat is. It seems, therefore, that the Cathedral represents (by default) the bishop's attitude toward just about everything. He's supposed to be a model of liturgical discipline, and his church is supposed to have the finest music for this reason. An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the crypt or the social hall might (arguably) not be a direct statement of the bishop, but a Gay Pride Mass celebrated in that cathedral (whether or not the bishop is the celebrant) is, nevertheless an act of the bishop. This is why TLM's are not held in many cathedrals: it would signal to the diocese that the bishop approved, and wished to be known as one who approved. (Some who approve seem to think they must move cautiously on this, while they move with reckless abandon on other things.)

Therefore, an act of worship in the cathedral, in which worship aids are provided, can't help but be an act of the diocesan bishop, for the diocese.

In the USA, Catholic cathedrals typically have rectors; they may or may not be organized as territorial parishes - in the latter case, rector is the canonically correct term, but customary usage goes beyond that.

Is the bishop the one celebrating the Mass for this particular event? If not, then I would think they're totally justified in restricting the use of it.

Perhaps the cathedral itself has its own crest? This is at least the case in my diocese. There is distinct heraldry for each of:

• the cathedral
• the archdiocese
• the archbishop and each auxiliary bishop

Service booklets use the cathedral's crest.

tandrews - this page describes a priest knowledgable about ecclesiastical heraldry. He might be worth consulting.

I would suggest using the bishop's coat of arms since the cathedral holds his cathedra. (Unless you get reprimanded for that as well...)

I'm about to, and it crossed my mind!

The pessimist in me thinks I could get his approval, but given his old age, the same communications director would tell the bishop he doesn't have the authority to do that (ha!)...