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26th Feb 2020

Galway parish reports record high attendance at Ash Wednesday drive-thru

Alan Loughnane

Ash Wednesday drive thru

Who says the church isn’t keeping with the times?

Ash Wednesday is one of the most important holidays in the liturgical calendar and it opens Lent, the Catholic Church’s season of fasting and prayer.

As is the custom, many practicing Christians get ashes on their foreheads which they say symbolises penance and the dust from which God created humans.

But, with the hustle and bustle of life, it can be hard to make time to get ashes on your forehead.

One Galway parish noticed that people nowadays are very busy, and created a solution which they’ve now run for a number of years.

For those who couldn’t attend mass in Glenamaddy on the day, there was the option to drive their vehicle through one gate of the church from 8am to 9.30am, get their ashes from the sanctuary of their vehicle, and then exit through another gate.

Parish priest Fr Paddy Mooney of St. Patrick’s Church in Glenamaddy spent his day giving out ashes in what’s become an annual tradition in the parish.

Main image via St Patrick’s Church Glenamaddy

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