HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Diocese of Harrisburg announced this week that it is making a change how it will distribute ash to parishioners during Ash Wednesday services this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of marking the sign of the cross in ash on parishioners' foreheads, as is traditionally done, clergy will instead sprinkle the ashes on the top of the heads of those who wish to receive them, the Diocese said Wednesday in a press release.
Those who wish to receive ashes will also be asked to line up following social distancing guidelines, the Diocese said.
“The sprinkling of ashes on top of the head is a common practice followed in many parts of the world," said Most Rev. Ronald W. Gainer, Bishop of Harrisburg, in a press release. "This method of distribution will limit the personal contact between our clergy and parishioners, allowing us to maintain worship spaces that are as safe as can be made during this continued time of pandemic."
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the holy season of Lent, the Diocese said. This year, it falls on Feb. 17.
Bishop Gainer will celebrate Mass and distribute ashes at noon at the Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick on 212 State Street, the Diocese said.
The Mass will be live streamed on the Diocese of Harrisburg YouTube channel, www.YouTube.com/hbgdiocese, for those unable to attend in person.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which is a 40 day period when Catholics are asked to devote themselves to seeking the Lord in prayer and reading Scripture, to service by giving alms, and to sacrifice through fasting, according to the Diocese.
"The distribution of ashes is a reminder of our mortality and our need for repentance, as we are accustomed to in the United States," the Diocese said. "In the Old Testament, ashes were used as a sign of humility and mortality, and as a sign of sorrow and repentance for sin. The ashes are made by burning any remaining blessed palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday."
As a time of abstinence, those Catholics 14 and older are obligated to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent, the Diocese said.
Additionally, healthy adults ages 18-59 are also asked to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by only eating one full meal and two smaller meals on those days, according to the Diocese. Those with a medical condition that makes fasting inadvisable are not obligated to fast, but they should perform another act of penance or charity.
Due to abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent, parish Fish Fries are popular events. A listing of Fish Fries throughout the Diocese can be found at www.hbgdiocese.org/lenten-dinners-and-events.
More details and resources on Lent are available on the Diocesan website at www.hbgdiocese.org/lent.
