New Robes!

One of the things about Ripon College that took me by surprise when I went to visit on the Open Day is that ordinands need to have certain robes before they arrive. But after reflection, it seems to make sense:

At Cuddesdon, wearing robes is a part of the Ministerial Formation - the "becoming" a priest. There are many reasons why priests wear robes (and why some choose not to!), and no doubt I will get to learn more about this during training. But some reasons are:

• It's a sign of the priest's calling
• It is a hiding of the self, in that the priest becomes anonymous in a sense, as worship is directed towards God.
• Similarly, a priest's choice of clothing may end up being a distraction to worship; wearing robes prevents this from happening (unless the robes are particularly garish!)
• There is one strand of tradition that saw the wearing of robes as a mark of humility.

During my training, I will be getting used to wearing robes, and, thanks to the generosity of the parishioners of St. Mark's, Biggin Hill (where I worked for five and a half years up until March 2009), my first robes have been ordered and arrived today!

For college, I need a cassock, a surplice and a cassock-alb. They may not mean much to you, so if you click on the words, the links will take you to where you can learn more about them! But in the meantime, I have my first robes, and I would like to publicly thank St. Mark's Church for the gift they gave which enabled me to purchase them.