St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Bradford - Future Faithful
or Bits Remaining ... ?

Bradford Diocese has launched a new diocesan logo which appears in full colour on its stationery.

The design uses contrasting colours combined into one rectangle, which is intended to represent Bradford as a place of many cultures and traditions, full of colour and vibrancy. Grey is for the stone of the city's buildings, green for its rural dales, and blue for its rivers which originally gave life to the valleys. Purple, being a bishops’ colour, stands for the church's presence in the area and as a royal colour it acknowledges Christ the King. Orange represents hope and optimism for the future.

The overall design represents Bradford “as a place of many cultures and traditions, full of colour and vibrancy. It also stands for the Church in the Bradford Diocese as alive in the Spirit and a builder of bridges: bringing together people and traditions, and giving cohesiveness” says the designer.

There is also a strapline "future faithful" - intended to summarise faithfulness to the past and the ongoing present of Christian faith, but looking to new things which God will do in the future.

A lapel badge will be available later this year.

However, some of our clergy have been unable to guess the symbolism for themselves, and the subject received a fair amount of discussion on the diocesan “Off-The-Record” e-mail chat group.

About "future faithful", some wondered whether it was a reference to St Augustine's famous sentiment: "Lord, make me perfect, but not just yet"? Was it an admission that we’ve been less than faithful in the past?

The unity of the colours also puzzled people. As well as the difficulty in copying the design in black-and-white (for those of us who like to use cheaper stationery), there was a slight feeling that the colours didn’t so much merge as clash. Maybe Bradford is a coalition of diverse bits which don’t fit together terribly well, and need a lot of work to fit together?

"I have heard that Bradford Diocese's peculiar shape is best explained as being the bits left over after the various other dioceses had taken the parts they wanted," said one contributor. Suddenly it became clear to me why our diocese has this name: BRADFORD is the Bits Remaining After Dioceses Fought Over Rural Dales!

The things they never tell you on job interviews!

John Hartley

The original article did not carry the two illustrations above.

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. August 2003, Page 11.
Home Page. Index of articles. In this issue: (August 2003) Bruce, 4-cup HC, Song, History, Homosexuality, Bradford Logo.	Bradford - Future Faithful or Bits Remaining ... ? Bradford Diocese has launched a new diocesan logo which appears in full colour on its stationery. The design uses contrasting colours combined into one rectangle, which is intended to represent Bradford as a place of many cultures and traditions, full of colour and vibrancy. Grey is for the stone of the city's buildings, green for its rural dales, and blue for its rivers which originally gave life to the valleys. Purple, being a bishops’ colour, stands for the church's presence in the area and as a royal colour it acknowledges Christ the King. Orange represents hope and optimism for the future. The overall design represents Bradford “as a place of many cultures and traditions, full of colour and vibrancy. It also stands for the Church in the Bradford Diocese as alive in the Spirit and a builder of bridges: bringing together people and traditions, and giving cohesiveness” says the designer. There is also a strapline "future faithful" - intended to summarise faithfulness to the past and the ongoing present of Christian faith, but looking to new things which God will do in the future. A lapel badge will be available later this year. However, some of our clergy have been unable to guess the symbolism for themselves, and the subject received a fair amount of discussion on the diocesan “Off-The-Record” e-mail chat group. About "future faithful", some wondered whether it was a reference to St Augustine's famous sentiment: "Lord, make me perfect, but not just yet"? Was it an admission that we’ve been less than faithful in the past? The unity of the colours also puzzled people. As well as the difficulty in copying the design in black-and-white (for those of us who like to use cheaper stationery), there was a slight feeling that the colours didn’t so much merge as clash. Maybe Bradford is a coalition of diverse bits which don’t fit together terribly well, and need a lot of work to fit together? "I have heard that Bradford Diocese's peculiar shape is best explained as being the bits left over after the various other dioceses had taken the parts they wanted," said one contributor. Suddenly it became clear to me why our diocese has this name: BRADFORD is the Bits Remaining After Dioceses Fought Over Rural Dales! The things they never tell you on job interviews! John Hartley The original article did not carry the two illustrations above.
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