This news story is circulating. I’ve been racking my memory trying to remember any kids at my school with a Ash Wed Cross on their forehead. I certainly haven’t seen any teachers with one.
I can’t recall any of my Co-workers wearing one either.
There were Catholic kids in my school. I’m sure some people at my job are Catholic.
Have I just not been paying attention? There’s a photo here and the cross is pretty hard too miss.
I vaguely remember movie scenes where a priest used a finger to apply something to dying peoples faces. I have no idea what.
I see it occasionally, but IME most weekday church services are in the evening, so most people with work and school commitments won’t be at work or school after church. (Obviously that wasn’t the case for the poor kid in the story.)
It’s not just Catholics. The imposition of ashes is observed in (as far as I know) pretty much all Christian denominations except the Eastern Orthodox and (most?) Baptist churches.
It’s not uncommon for me to see people with it at work. A lot of churches (including mine) have evening services, so that plays a role.
Among Protestants, it broadly falls along the mainline/Evangelical divide. Mainlines tend to do it (Episcopalians, United Methodists, Lutherans, some Presbyterians) Evangelicals don’t tend to do it (Pentecostals, Charismatics, Baptists, ubiquitous ‘Community Churches’) Among Catholics, the imposition tends to take place all day long, so many get them before work in the morning. Among Protestants, it’s almost always in the evening. (Our United Methodist church did our imposition at 7 pm as an example.) If you’re in a Protestant area with mainlines, you will likely not see any ashes unless you’re out in the evening. If you’re in a Catholic area, you’ll see them more commonly throughout the day.
The teacher seemed unaware of the significance of Ash Wednesday and made a bad decision.
I had seen Ash Wednesday on calendars and never knew it’s significance. I do understand the importance of the cross and would never ask anyone to wash it off or make any comment.
I learned something new today. That’s always a good thing.
The whole evangelical side of things is (at least in the USA with all of our weird outcast churches) usually pretty sour on the entire concept of a liturgical calendar, outside of Christmas and Easter (and I think those were only saved from the Puritans because there are aspects that are fun). Some of them are starting to come around on Good Friday too, but there are plenty of “low church” congregations that held their normal Wednesday bible study without even the faintest realization that it was a special Wednesday for the Catholics and Lutherans across the street.
I didn’t see any in my office this year but most years I see a couple of people at least. I only remember a couple of students in my entire school career who ever got them in the morning. I grew up in a pretty Catholic area too, so I’d imagine a lot of kids got them after class.
I graduated from high school about 35 years ago, and don’t remember seeing people wearing the ashes, but I do remember in grade school some of the kids were dismissed early for regular catechism classes (which was for the Catholic kids at school).
I was at a brewery Wednesday evening and there was a woman with ash on her head. Initially I thought she had a hygiene issue, then I realized what was up.
I went to a Catholic grade school. Everyone got ashes - they cycled us all through the church in the morning to get them. And heaven help the poor kid who wiped his own off - the nuns would come down on them like a ton of bricks.
There are plenty of self-professed Catholics who go to church on Christmas & Easter & skip everything else, but it is an odd combination of someone devout enough to go to the trouble of getting ashes, but unaware that you’re not supposed to treat the day as a celebration. That’s what Fat Tuesday is for after all.