On November 13-14, 2000, a scientific session was held at the Catholic University of Lublin, devoted to church heraldry. The organizers were the Department of Auxiliary Sciences of History of the Institute of the History of the Catholic Church of the Catholic University of Lublin and the Lublin branch of the Polish Heraldic Society. Józef Szymański's report questioned the sense of using the term "ecclesiastical heraldry", suggesting that it should be treated as a field that follows the general principles of heraldry. Then, historical aspects and hypotheses regarding the origins of the bishop's coat of arms were discussed, as well as practical principles of creating coats of arms of people and church institutions. The speeches also touched on topics related to the heraldry of the hierarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches and the relationship between the personal coats of arms of bishops and the heraldry of managed provinces and monasteries. The session ended by emphasizing the growing interest in research on church heraldry, especially in recent decades.