Ash Wednesday Schedule
The season of Lent begins this Wednesday, March 6, when we will celebrate Mass with the distribution of ashes at 7:30 AM and at 7:00 PM. In addition, a Liturgy of the Word with distribution of ashes will be held at 11:00 AM and at 4:45 PM. NB: ashes are not available at other times.
Special Lenten Activities
Stations of the Cross & Benediction: in the main church on Fridays at 7:00 PM, March 8, thru April 12. On March 29, all are welcome to a special Stations of the Cross for Young People presented by our High School Youth Group. All are also encouraged to attend the Lenten Soup Supper in the social hall at 5:30 PM before the Stations of the Cross that evening.
On Friday, April 12, the eighth graders of the parish school will present a Living Stations of the Cross at 1:30 PM and again at 7:00 PM. All are most welcome to attend this Lenten service, as well as the K of C Fish Fry in the social hall, 5:00-7:00 PM.
Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation: Individual confessions are heard in the daily Mass chapel on Saturday mornings at 9:00 AM. Confessions will also be heard in the daily Mass chapel, 6:30-7:00 PM, on four Lenten Wednesdays: March 13, 20, 27 and April 3. The Lenten Communal Penance Service with Individual Confessions will be held on Wednesday, April 10, at 7:00 PM. There will also be an extended period of confessions (9:00-11:00 AM) on Saturday, April 13.
Living Lenten Cross Project: The Adult Faith Formation Committee, Family Life Ministry Team and Pastoral Plan Implementation Committee invite all parishioners - adults and children, individuals and families - to participate in a new Living Lenten Cross project this year. Between March 9 and March 19, two large wooden crosses will be in the narthex (like the Advent Giving Tree) with small paper crosses affixed, each suggesting a commitment to carry out during Lent. Please choose one or more spiritual or hands-on activity to carry out during Lent to honor Jesus and your faith. For more information, contact Diane Shoemaker (
Spiritual Disciplines for Lent
The Bishops of the United States prescribe, as minimal obligation, that all persons who are fourteen years of age and older are bound to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday. All persons eighteen years of age and older, up to and including their fifty-ninth birthday, are bound to fast by limiting themselves to a single full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, while the other two meals on those two days are to be light.
All are encouraged to participate in Mass and to receive Holy Communion regularly; to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation; to make time for spiritual reading, especially the study of Sacred Scripture; to attend Lenten devotions such as the Stations of the Cross, and to participate in stewardship activities during Lent, including Operation Rice Bowl.
Don’t forget to stop by the AFF/FLMT resource table in the narthex on Ash Wednesday!