Ash Wednesday

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know or any Catholic churches in Fairfax county that just give out ashes without a mass? I've never been able to find that since I moved here. I have to travel to Richmond for meetings that day and won't be able to attend the day mass I typically go to but I'd like to go before, on my way down or back and after.

[Anonymous]

No. No Catholic Churches give out ashes without Mass. The Mass is the important thing, not the ashes. If you just want ashes, make them yourself.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Catholic Churches will have prayer service with ashes and not the full mass. I don't have a recommendation but if you google it a list comes up from previous years,maybe you can check those churches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. No Catholic Churches give out ashes without Mass. The Mass is the important thing, not the ashes. If you just want ashes, make them yourself.

That's not true. Ashes can be distributed outside of a full mass. There is s shorter service done instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. No Catholic Churches give out ashes without Mass. The Mass is the important thing, not the ashes. If you just want ashes, make them yourself.

That's not true. Ashes can be distributed outside of a full mass. There is s shorter service done instead.

So not true. As a child my parish would just give out ashes in the early morning for people to get before work and when I worked in NYC there was a church right out side Penn Station that you could just walk in for quick ashes on your way into work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. No Catholic Churches give out ashes without Mass. The Mass is the important thing, not the ashes. If you just want ashes, make them yourself.

That's not true. Ashes can be distributed outside of a full mass. There is s shorter service done instead.

This is correct. As long as the ashes are previously blessed you don't even need a priest to perform the service.

The "ashes to go" at the train put on the street is NOT done by Catholic Churches though my old parish in chicago had them all day long in the basement. You still had to walk into the church, say a prayer with the priest/lay person distributing them and were then expected to sit and pray for a good 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know or any Catholic churches in Fairfax county that just give out ashes without a mass? I've never been able to find that since I moved here. I have to travel to Richmond for meetings that day and won't be able to attend the day mass I typically go to but I'd like to go before, on my way down or back and after.

If there are none in Fairfax, maybe Richmond has one.

[Anonymous]

Non-religious NP here. What's the point of ashes without the mass? I thought the point was the service, and the ashes were a byproduct, like getting your hand stamped at a club?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Non-religious NP here. What's the point of ashes without the mass? I thought the point was the service, and the ashes were a byproduct, like getting your hand stamped at a club?

Ash Wednesday is the 1st day of lent and ashes (made from palm from the previous palm sunday) are an outward sign of repentance. It is the beginning of a time of fasting, abstinence and repentance known as Lent.

Ash Wednesday is not a Sunday, nor is it a holy day of obligation. These are the times that Catholics are "required" to go to mass. So not going to mass on Ash Wednesday is like not going to mass on any other Wednesday. It's not expected by the laws of the church.

What is the point of ashes? Like all traditions people like to practice traditions in their religion... like Yom Kippur or Ramadan.

[Anonymous]

I am Catholic and would have no problem getting ashes distributed by some evangelical church a a Metro stop if I couldn't make it to a church. Receiving ashes is not a sacrament, just a symbol, so I wouldn't be too fussy about where they came from.

By the way, I find it interesting and heartening that some of the Protestant churches are taking on things that not so long ago were thought of as purely Catholic like ashes. Same with Catholics taking on some of the better Protestant hymns. Like the idea of finding as much as we can in common.

[Anonymous]

Our Lady of Good Counsel in Vienna is having drive thru ashes with coffee- check their website for details

[Anonymous]

St. George's Episcopal in Arlington usually does "Ashes to Go" at Virginia Square metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. George's Episcopal in Arlington usually does "Ashes to Go" at Virginia Square metro.

What time?

[Anonymous]

I remember this growing up, but don't think my parish does it.

[Anonymous]

Any Catholic churches in Arlington that do ashes without Mass?