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Bishop for a Day

Westminster Cathedral Choir School celebrated the feast of its patron St Gregory the Great, by restoring the medieval practice of the Boy Bishop.

Joseph Attaman, accompanied by two Boy Canons, and robed in cope, delivered a sermon "Angles and Angels" at the end of the patronal Mass.

The custom of the Boy Bishop varied from Cathedral to Cathedral, some celebrating it at the feast of St Nicholas, others on Holy Innocents. In each Cathedral, however, the (adult) Bishop would vacate his seat for the fully attired chorister to take over from him. The chosen boy was surrounded with magnificent ceremonial: at York, the Boy Bishop was taken in procession around the diocese, visiting churches and monasteries, while at Gloucester he received lavish gifts from the nobility. The Boy Bishop would always preach a sermon, which attracted huge crowds. One such sermon survives at Gloucester, condemning the wicked behaviour of the children in the choir school! The practice was banned at the Reformation, but in recent years has been revived in Gloucester and Hereford Cathedrals. Here at Westminster, with our keen sense of continuity with English medieval Catholicism, it is good to see an ancient tradition reborn with such enthusiasm.

Angles and Angels - The address given by the Bishop for a Day

When I hear the story of St Gregory and the slaves I cannot help wondering that if St Gregory visited our school whether he would have thought us angels. Of course we all have our own unique angelic qualities but, in some cases it is much harder to find them compared to others.

When St Gregory saw the Anglo-Saxon slaves he perceived them in a completely different way from his companion. He saw them, not as slaves but as people of Christ, angels. As everyone is unique we all have differences in opinion and point of view. Of course we disagree on many points of life, for example, which is the best football team and which priest has the most boring sermons.

Here St Gregory teaches us a particularly important lesson for life. When we meet new people and also when we interact with people that we know, we should look past our first impressions and look for the hidden qualities that the person possesses. There is much more to a person than what first meets the eye. This is what our opinion of the person must be based on.

Many aspects of a person affect our opinion of them. What clothes they wear, what music they listen to, if they have the wrong haircut or a different background. We, as a whole have no whims or problems about putting people into categories and labelling them as "avoid at all costs."

"You should never judge a book by its cover." This well known phrase applies very much here, not to literature but to people. We all know what it feels like to be made an outsider so we should do our best to make sure that others do not have to be made to feel that way. Ifwe have already stereotyped a person before even getting to know them then we are unfairly and unnecessarily prosecuting them. After having seen someone from one angle and disliked them we do not bother to look any further to find hidden qualities that we were completely unaware of.

Of course we would want to be friends with the rich boy who has three houses and all the new gadgets. Material goods do not make a good friend. We must look past this camouflage to find the real person underneath.

Just as Saint Gregory did we must learn to look at people from a different angle than we usually do. We must treat them, as we ourselves would like to be treated. We must rejoice in people's good qualities not dwell on their bad characteristics. The only way we can live properly is to live in harmony with each other. Take for example, the beautiful mosaics in the cathedral. Each one is a work of art, planned and constructed by a skilled craftsman. Imagine each one as a community of people, if they live in harmony they are a work of God's art. However if one tiny marble chip breaks loose, the mosaic is ruined, as this piece is followed by many more. So, if we, here are like a mosaic, living in peace and one person decides to judge a person badly because of how they look or their clothes and not by their inner personality and qualities this peace is shattered. Then we, as a whole, are only are partially finished mosaic. Pitted with tiny holes that spoil us.

It is not only our angle of perception of people that we must try to change but also the way we look at life. When I was first learning about the wonders of angles in the crazy world of mathematics I thought that it would take Angels to help me understand them. However by looking at the problem that confronted me in a different way I managed to solve it. We should not think of what we do not know but of what we do know. We must face the problems of life by using our own knowledge to solve them.

During Lent in this time of preparation, we should try to clear our consciences in the run up to Easter. If you have a quarrel with someone then try your hardest to resolve it. We will all have a much happier Easter if we are not quarrelling with friends. Bypass their bad traits and try to build a friendship on their interests and good qualities. If you do not look for their good qualities you will not find them and that would certainly be a waste of a friendship. We must see people in a different light. We may find hobbies or interests that are similar to our own. This is the beginning of all friendships. However stereotyping is the basis of friction. We should take pleasure in meeting new people. New people are new opportunities and the chance to learn many new skills and have new experiences. Why should we dash these opportunities on the rocks because of our bad first impressions.

So I now ask you to make that extra effort to welcome the outsider and lead by example by building bridges of friendship now that will be invaluable during life.

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