17, many dioceses, including the Archdiocese of Atlanta, will be following the Vatican’s recommendation of a modified method for distributing ashes: sprinkling them on the top of people’s heads rather than using them to make a cross on people’s foreheads. This year, for example, there will likely be no parish pancake suppers on Mardi Gras, as there were just a year ago.Īnd during this year’s celebration of Ash Wednesday Feb. Most churches are open now but are limiting congregation sizes and requiring parishioners to sign up for Masses.
It wasn’t until the third week of Lent that dioceses began lifting Sunday Mass obligations and temporarily stopping public Masses. 26 were celebrated just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, so church services and social media posts of people’s ashes followed the usual tradition. Other Catholics will be watching the livestream Mass, as they have been for much of the pandemic, and will of course, not receive ashes. WASHINGTON (CNS)-Ash Wednesday, as with many other things right now, will have a different look at many Catholic parishes across the United States this year.įor starters, Catholic churches that are often standing-room only on this day-drawing crowds just short of the Easter and Christmas congregations-will be at their pandemic-restricted size limits with members of the congregation spread out in socially distanced seating.
