Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. will be the principal celebrant at Mass and distribute blessed ashes at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

Catholics in 266 parishes across the Archdiocese will attend Mass and receive ashes on their foreheads which are marked in the sign of a cross to remind them of their mortality as Lent 2012 begins with Ash Wednesday.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
12:05 p.m.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Ash Wednesday signifies the beginning of Lent for Christians throughout the world. Lent is the 40-day penitential season of prayer and sacrifice lasting from Ash Wednesday through Holy Thursday in preparation for Easter.

Beginning next week parishes throughout the five-county Archdiocese will offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation each Wednesday evening from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for the duration of the Lenten Season.

The Bishops of the United States prescribe, as a minimal obligation, that all persons who are fourteen years of age and older abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, on all the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday. Further, all persons eighteen years of age and older, up to and including their fifty-ninth birthday, are bound to fast by limiting themselves to a single full meal on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.

During the Season of Lent this year, Catholic schools throughout the region are partnering with Nutritional Development Services (NDS) of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to fight hunger. School families are being asked to take part in the "One Can-One Meal" program by donating canned food items that will be used in food cupboards, soup kitchens and shelters to assist the needy. NDS supports approximately 50 food cupboards in the greater Philadelphia area and serves approximately 10.5 million meals annually.

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Editor's Note: For Ash Wednesday Mass in the Cathedral an audio and video mult-box feed will be provided. Crews will need a bnc connector and recording deck or a live truck. Television cameras will not be permitted in the Cathedral. Reporters and still photographers will be permitted in the Cathedral.

Contact
Kenneth A. Gavin
Associate Director of Communications
215-587-3747