The general expectation for bishops is for impaled arms, but once again (IMO anyway) another case in which two adjacent shields under the galeto would likely work better visually than impaled on one shield.
Both designs standing alone are OK, especially the diocese, but to me the impalement of two such dissimilar designs is a bit visually jarring, especially on the sinister side. (I suspect that my reaction would be different if the personal arms were consideraby simpler; parted per pairle reversed is fine i.e. nicely symmetrical on a separate shield, but to me this partition looks unbalanced when impaled.)
Personal opinions only, others may & likely will differ. And for the record, I’m not saying that the achievement as shown is merely "we’ve seen worse" - only that IMO "it could be better."
And in any case, heraldry in the US would be far poorer without the presence & contribution of American clerical/ecclesiastical arms.
I don’t find the bishop’s personal arms either objectionable or particularly exciting, but it’s sort of in the nature of impalement that some arms work together better than others. Apart for the separate shields, it would be nice if American bishops and their heraldic advisers understood that they have the option of quartering if that works better esthetically. Even short of that, Deacon Sullivan could very easily have used a wider shield in this case to make the two halves look less crowded. Templates make doing the art easier, but they also preclude making the artistic adjustments that are sometimes necessary.
I guess the Bishop has Czech roots. The partition of the personal Arms that way gives strong resemblece to the Flag of Czechoslovakia and of today’s Czech Republic. The Azure perhaps a bit lighter than in the Flag.
Marcus K;101457 wrote:
I guess the Bishop has Czech roots. The partition of the personal Arms that way gives strong resemblece to the Flag of Czechoslovakia and of today’s Czech Republic. The Azure perhaps a bit lighter than in the Flag.
Great spot, Marcus!
Joe makes valid points re: uaing a wider shield for the impalement, though it’s nearly square already; or quartering, though it would get a bit busy.
Another possibility - though maybe not quite kosher in the episcopal context 
- might be to use the model of the lower half of the Spanish royal arms, or the arms of Christopher Colombus - i.e. point the bottom of both diocese & personal arms to approximately what they might be displayed separately, and insert some simple additional charge in the bottom center. (I know there’s a proper way to blazon this, but my brain is a bit fuzzy on a cold wet morning…) This should approximate the visual benefits of two separate but adjacent shields, while still technically being the expected impalement.
The artistic design of each of the arms would therefore stand on its own merits, with perhaps less of a concern re: harmonizing the two designs both initially & with each succeeding new bishop. It should also simplify to some degree the designing of new arms for both dioceses & bishops, since they wouldn’t need to be concerned with how the arms would look when hammered into the distorted space allowed by the usual impalement.
Just a suggestion FWIW.
Marcus K;101457 wrote:
I guess the Bishop has Czech roots. The partition of the personal Arms that way gives strong resemblece to the Flag of Czechoslovakia and of today’s Czech Republic. The Azure perhaps a bit lighter than in the Flag.
Perhaps. But the worldnames public profiler lists the occurances below (FPM) for the surname Kopacz. Given that the partition would have the flag hoist up and looking at the back, it’s probably more likely that he liked the partition and the colors. It would be pretty cool if it were intentional, though.
POLAND 169.92
HUNGARY 24.76
UNITED STATES 5.94
SWEDEN 3.79
GERMANY 1.75
BELGIUM 1.72
FRANCE 1.63
ARGENTINA 0.52
CANADA 0.46
UNITED KINGDOM 0.42
Kenneth Mansfield;101463 wrote:
Perhaps. But the worldnames public profiler lists the occurances below (FPM) for the surname Kopacz. Given that the partition would have the flag hoist up and looking at the back, it’s probably more likely that he liked the partition and the colors. It would be pretty cool if it were intentional, though.
POLAND 169.92
HUNGARY 24.76
UNITED STATES 5.94
SWEDEN 3.79
GERMANY 1.75
BELGIUM 1.72
FRANCE 1.63
ARGENTINA 0.52
CANADA 0.46
UNITED KINGDOM 0.42
Well its not that impossible as the Czech Republic includes parts of the Province of Silesia adjecent to Poland. So some Polish names may have ended up there.
