I struggle with wondering somehow, if things like this are silly and not worth the time spent wondering or reading or writing about them, especially since norms seem so broadly written that there is no clear cut definitive answer (or room for YOPI) - as is the case with Tabernacle location or altar crucifix placement. And what if my parish priest was given the pottery chalice by someone very dear to him? Who am I? Does God really care?
On the other hand... where do the little "sort of" disobedience things stop?
So this is where I put my fingers in my ears, chant "la-la-la-la I can't hear you" real loudly and jump up and down. ;-)
You should stop wondering. Things like this are silly. Common sense should prevail, and usually does.
The priest doesn't get to select the instruments of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to his own personal feelings. He has a job to do and he has a GIRM to tell him how to do it properly.
God does care if people obey the Church he established on Peter or if they disobey it. He cares a lot.
Very much. Not because he needs our reverence or our sacrifices, but because we need to be reverent, and we need to sacrifice. Part of reverence, a sense of what's sacred, requires that we set aside things exclusively for worship. And part of worship requires that the material things we consecrate to God's glory reflect the beauty and preciousness of our own souls, which are made for him.