Diocesan badge proposed by Communications Committee

A proposed heraldic badge for the diocese designed by the Chief Herald of Canada was unveiled at Diocesan Synod by the Diocesan Communications and Marketing Committee.

The committee has been trying to design a logo or word mark that will bring a sense of unity to print and electronic diocesan communications and replace or supplement a wide range of symbols now in use.

Robert Watt, the chief herald, designed the badge, using elements from the long-established diocesan coat of arms. The diocesan logo would also include the words

Diocese of New Westminster
Anglican Church of Canada

The badge is simpler and more easily adapted to printed and especially to electronic publications. If adopted, it would not replace the coat of arms, however, which still would be used by the Bishop and his office, and by parishes that preferred it to the badge.

Watt proposed two shapes for the badge. It could either be a circle or a pointed oval (football shape). The advantage of the latter shape is that it suggests the Bishop’s mitre (hat), symbolizing the episcopal nature of the Anglican Church and our Diocese.

Watt  gave an explanation of the other elements:

Colours

The main colours of blue and gold are borrowed from the coat of arms of the Diocese, which was granted in 1960, based on a design of 1879. The blue represents the heavens, the rivers and the sea. The gold refers to the cross and Christ as the Light of the World.

Symbols

The patonce cross, found in the diocesan arms, is a reference to the post Reformation coat of arms of Westminster Abbey. These arms, in turn, were based on the medieval arms of the cross and five martlets, or birds without legs, attributed to the Abbey's founder, King Edward the Confessor. Here, the cross forms a link with the main official symbol of the Diocese but most importantly dramatizes the reality that this is the badge of a Christian community.

The birds or martlets are also borrowed from the diocesan arms. Here they are shown in a Canadian style, as developed by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, to emphasize that this is a badge of a Canadian institution, which is serving people in one part of the country. Another possibility is that the birds refer to the power of the Holy Spirit. Customary iconography for the Holy Spirit is the dove, but it it may be fair to see the martlets as messengers from heaven.

The wavy white line symbolizes water; the water of the rivers and the sea, which are such an important feature of the diocesan landscape as well as the water of baptism and of life.

The Communications and Marketing Committee is soliciting comments from the diocese. Please sent them to the committee member taking the lead role in the project, Randy Murray, 604 682-3848, or randy@cathedral.vancouver.bc.ca.