The pastor vigorously disagreed, saying something to the effect that the people should be willing to “make the sacrifice” of spending a full hour at Mass at the start of Lent. It seemed to me he misunderstood the ritual’s prescription that distribution of ashes take place in the context of a liturgy of the word. Effectively, the pastor had turned the day into some sort of solemnity (in the popular vernacular, a holy day of obligation). The parish, situated near several office parks on the edge of a big city, would have hundreds of people converging on the regular weekday morning Mass and then additional special Masses at noon and early evening for Ash Wednesday. Readily acknowledging that my observation-cum-concern here is hardly original, I offer the following comments for the purpose of conversation. Catholic Church have realized a prioritizing of the Mass to the detriment of the wider range of the church’s rites. Each scenario contributed to my growing conviction that decades of liturgical reform and renewal in the U.S. With Ash Wednesday upon us, my thoughts run to years past when, one time in a parish and another on a university campus, the pastor and campus ministry director, respectively, insisted that ashes be distributed only during Masses.
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