Bishop Sullivan to celebrate Mass and distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday

Join Bishop Dennis Sullivan on Ash Wednesday as he celebrates 12:05 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Camden, with Imposition of Ashes. All are welcome as we begin the Lenten season!

The Mass will also be livestreamed at facebook.com/CamdenDiocese and YouTube.com/camdendiocese.

Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday, March 2, and lasts until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Thursday), April 14 this year. It’s a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter.

On Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed after the homily of the Mass and placed on the forehead as a sign of the penitential character of the season.  The ashes come from the burning of palm branches used on Passion (Palm) Sunday of the previous year.

In accord with the penitential character of the season, Catholics aged 18 to 59, if possible, are obliged to fast (having only one full meal each day) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  Fasting is an act of faith, humility and complete dependence on God.  On Ash Wednesday, as well as on Fridays during Lent, Catholics aged 14 and older, if possible, are also obliged to abstain from eating meat.  Works of charity, prayer and almsgiving are also encouraged during the Lenten season.

Also during the March ­­­2 Mass, Bishop Sullivan will bless Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowls that will be distributed to those in attendance. CRS Rice Bowl is the Lenten program of Catholic Relief Services, the official international development and humanitarian relief agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, that helps Catholics in the United States live out the Lenten pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in solidarity with our poorest brothers and sisters.  Seventy-five percent of CRS Rice Bowl donations collected in our diocese help the poor overseas, and 25% support local hunger and poverty alleviation projects in South Jersey.