Ash Wednesday Advisory to News and Assignment Editors

On Ash Wednesday, February 26, 2020, Catholic Bishop David A. Zubik will celebrate Mass and preach at 12 noon in St. Mary of Mercy Church, Downtown. The Mass will be cablecast at noon on Comcast Channel 95 (Pittsburgh). 

The Mass will also be online at www.ChristianAssociatesTV.org.
Additionally, The Pittsburgh Faith and Family Channel is carrying the Mass over the air on WPCB 40.6 and through three online outlets. It can be viewed at https://www.ctvn.org/pff/schedule, via an app found at  ctvn.org/apps; or on Roku under Pittsburgh Faith & Family Channel.

Ashes will be distributed at St. Mary of Mercy at the 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., noon and 5:00 p.m. Masses.  They will also be distributed next door in the Diocesan Pastoral Center auditorium from 10:00 a.m.- 11:45 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m-2:00 p.m. on Ash Wednesday.

Later on Wednesday, Bishop Zubik will celebrate Mass at 6 p.m. at St. Paul Cathedral and 9 p.m. at Duquesne University. The 6 pm. Mass will also be cablecast from Comcast Channel 95 in the city of Pittsburgh and will be online at www.ChristianAssociatesTV.org.
Your coverage is invited.

Background on Ash Wednesday:

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent for Roman Catholic and many Protestant Christians. (The Eastern Catholic Churches begin Lent two days prior to Ash Wednesday.)

The Ash Wednesday practice of receiving ashes on the forehead originates in the Hebrew scriptures, in which ashes were signs of humility, mortality, sorrow and repentance for sin. Early Christians who had committed grave sins were obliged to do public penance, including wearing hairshirts, and were sprinkled with the ashes of blessed palms from Palm Sunday. After 40 days of penance, they were allowed to return to church on Holy Thursday. Later, all Catholics began to receive ashes as a reminder that all have sinned and have need for reflection, prayer and penance.

The Catholic observance of Lent includes certain days of fast and abstinence. The obligation of abstinence (refraining from eating meat) begins at the age of 14. The law of fasting (limiting oneself to one full meal and two lighter meals) obliges all healthy adults ages 18-59. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence in the United States. Those with a medical condition that makes fasting inadvisable are not obliged to fast, but should perform some other act of penance or charity. Lent continues until Holy Thursday, which falls on April 9 in 2020.