On Ash Wednesday, February 17 Masses are as follows:
8:00 A.M. Mass
12:15 P.M. Mass 4:00 P.M. Mass (Parking Lot; Live-Stream)
5:30 P.M. Mass (Children’s & Family Mass)
7:00 P.M. Mass
Ashes will be imposed at all live Masses on Ash Wednesday. The 5:30 p.m. Mass on Ash Wednesday will focus on the parish’s children and families; all are welcome and invited to that Mass.
Bishop O’Connell - - with everyone’s health and safety in mind on Ash Wednesday and during Lent - - has directed parishes to continue following all covid protocols during Lent and to please be mindful of the fol-lowing:
• The Church has never obliged attendance at Mass nor the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation this year nor has it been in the past.
• Imposing ashes in the usual manner is not permitted this year.
• Recommended Method: marking the foreheads of the faithful with ashes with the use of a QTip.
• A new QTip must be used with every person (as currently done with Anointings of the Sick).
• Sprinkling of ashes on the top of the head (the “Roman custom”) is not customary in the U.S. and is inadvisable.
• Priests and, only if necessary, other ministers shall sanitize hands before and after imposition of ashes.
• Ashes are to blessed after the homily of the Mass. They will be imposed at the conclusion of the Mass prior to the departure of the faithful.
Ash Wednesday Mass Schedule
As Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, I encourage all our Catholic clergy, religious and lay faithful to sign a petition to protect congressional legislative provisions in support of life: Click Here. Please access the New Jersey Catholic Conference website and also read the Action Alerts posted on the NJCC website: https://njcatholic.org.
Please consider writing letters in strong support of pro-life protections to our New Jersey senators and congressmen and congresswomen. Thank you and may God bless and protect you all, born and unborn.
Healing After Abortion:
Do you know someone who is carrying the grief of a past abortion? There is always hope. The pain and sorrow of abortion does not need to endure for a lifetime. A “Day of Prayer and Healing” offers the opportunity to experience the love and mercy of God and to respond to His invitation to begin the journey of healing the wound of abortion. For upcoming dates, locations, and confidential registration, or just to talk to a Sister, please call the Sisters of Life at (866)-575-0075 (toll free) or
Know someone needing assistance with food, housing, drug addiction, mental health, domestic violence or immigration? Contact Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton.
For Information About the Parish's and Parishioners' Efforts to Provide Aid to our Brothers and Sisters in Ukraine