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Monday, February 27, 2006

The Armchair Liturgist 8: Ashes Outside of Mass
A timely topic for the series: under what circumstances would you armchair liturgists permit or encourage the distribution of ashes outside of Mass. I had a specific request by e-mail this morning from a parishioner: I work at (a) hospital. (Another parishioner) works with me and we were having a discussion about if as a eucharistic minister could you get ashes at church and give them out like at our work? A couple of women asked if we could do that would we give them ashes at work because when they get home their service is over. How would you respond? - Tell 'em that ashes are not obligatory and if they can't make 6:15 AM Mass, it's not a big deal? - Offer to lead a word service at the hospital (say around noon) and bring ashes to any patients there? Does your parish send people to nursing homes, possibly with Communion? Or is that the priest's job? Note: On many of these armchair liturgy questions, I've already made my call on it. I'm not necessarily looking for advice, though I've been fascinated by the input on these. The intent is to get you thinking about the unusual or odd decisions that parish staffs are confronted with on the liturgy front. PS Trivia question: May non-Catholics receive ashes?

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