In contrast, the scope of Ash Wednesday’s appeal has over these same decades widened steadily beyond Roman and Anglo-Catholicism to Protestant congregations.
Practice of the sacrament of penance, even just once per year, has for a half-century now been in steep decline to the point of disuse among an increasing percentage of the Catholic population. A symbolic gesture that does not number among the official seven sacraments of the church, “getting your ashes” continues to attract far more of the faithful than going to confession. Some pose it with a sense of urgency, others out of duty, and still others with excitement.įor a holy day for which the annual date is neither fixed (such as Christmas) nor for which observance by attendance at Mass is obligatory (again, Christmas), Ash Wednesday exerts a powerful draw on Catholics. “Did you get your ashes?” One Wednesday each year the question circulates among North American Roman Catholics.
