| I am a cradle Catholic, Catholic school alum, etc and I was always taught it was sinful and denying God to wash it off. Like denying that you were a Catholic. You should just let it wear ear off gradually and, if this still there at the end of the day, then wash it off. |
On Ash Wednesday this year, I was driving south on Wisconsin Avenue and noticed two priests on the corner of Tenleytown (by the metro) doing "Ashes to Go". Never seen that before (cradle Catholic). |
I have, a few years ago, here in DC. I think it's something they hadn't thought of before, but receiving ashes needn't be part of a mass, so there's no restriction as to where they can be distributed. I guess you don't have to be catholic, or in a state of grace either. |
My Episcopal church in Potomac does ashes to go. It's not just a catholic thing. |
This isn’t a Catholic Church teaching. |
| If you want to wear them off and think that they are too showy, then you have completely missed the point and you shouldn’t even bother getting them. |
| I thought you weren’t supposed to wipe them off. |
From Catholic.org- It is not required that a person wear the ashes for the rest of the day, and they may be washed off after Mass. |
Its not even a Holy Day of Obligation. You don't have to go to Church on Ash Wednesday and you aren't required to get the ashes. |
I think ashes to go is generally a Protestant “thing.” The Catholic Church frowns on the practice, and prefers that ashes be given as a part of mass except in special cases (home bound, etc.) |
I always thought ashes were a Catholic thing. I’ve been Episcopal all my life and ashes are new to me and not in every church. |
Ashes on Ash Wednesday, usually given during a mass, is a strongly Catholic tradition. “Ashes to go” is largely Protestant. |
| This is so dependent on your personal faith. Have issues denying God in public? Wear them? Like to force your faith on other people? Wipe them off. |
This is not true. |
What? |