Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap. will be the principal celebrant for the Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

Catholics in over 230 parishes across the five-county Archdiocese will attend Mass or a Liturgy of the Word and receive ashes on their foreheads which are marked in the sign of a cross to remind them to repent and believe in the Gospel as Lent 2014 begins with Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday signifies the beginning of Lent for Christians throughout the world. Lent is the 40-day penitential season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving from Ash Wednesday through Holy Thursday in preparation for Easter.

Beginning next week, the Cathedral Basilica will offer the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation each Wednesday evening beginning at 7:00 p.m. for the duration of the Lenten Season in addition to other scheduled times. Likewise, individual parishes throughout the Archdiocese may have alternative dates and times for this Sacrament in addition to already scheduled times.

The Bishops of the United States prescribe, as a minimal obligation, that all persons who are fourteen years of age and older are bound to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, all the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday. Further, 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 on Good Friday, while the other two meals on those days are to be light.

Editor’s Note: For Ash Wednesday Mass in the Cathedral, an audio and video mult-box feed will be provided. Crews will need a bnc connector and recording deck or a live truck. Television cameras will not be permitted in the Cathedral. Reporters and still photographers will be permitted in the Cathedral.

Contact
Stephanie Brophy
Associate Director of Communications
215-587-3747