However I think Cardinal Mahony takes the prize for his choice of sacred vessels:
Yep, that's a wicker basket, almost exactly like the one I keep old newspapers in by the fireplace.
Can you imagine? Teach the clergy? They suddenly have amnesia or what because here in PA precious metals were used almost exclusively, as required, until just 10 or 15 yrs ago. Now, they need re-educated? I, too, have seen ceramic, but it did have a thin gold-metal lining. Sometimes our priests don't clean the vessels. At my son's school, recently, the girl altar server stacked up the small glass plates used to distribute Holy Communion and stacked the small glasses used for the wine, chatting all the while, as though she were clearing dishes after dinner. Sigh. We joke that they've added the word 'Catholic' to the school's name because it is the only truly Catholic part of the whole place. In some of our local churches, glass is used almost exclusively. People who ask about the beautiful chalices and other vessels are told the church no longer has them - or has need to use them, glass is fine - but someone I know who works at the church admitted that those not given away as gifts were locked up in a cabinet in the back. A few are brought out for 'special' occasions.
However I think Cardinal Mahony takes the prize for his choice of sacred vessels:
Yep, that's a wicker basket, almost exactly like the one I keep old newspapers in by the fireplace.