Generally Speaking: How COVID-19 will affect Ash Wednesday
On Feb. 17, several mainline Christian religions will commemorate Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Congregants include Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians, Presbyterians, Independent Catholics and some other smaller religious denominations.
It is the day worshipers traditionally attend church services during which a priest or minister places a smudge of ashes in the sign of the cross on their forehead and recites, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that is about to change. Ashes will still be distributed but in a widespread manner not common to American parishioners. Overseas in many countries, and at the Vatican, the blessed ashes are sprinkled on the crown of the head.