Today we had our first Ash Wednesday service at the St. Jude Thaddeus School site. It was something of a test run to see how many people wanted to come, could find St. Jude School, and would brave the heat after a 97ºF afternoon. They came. We used basically every chair the school had and people were still standing.
In previous years we had two Ash Wednesday services, on opposite sides of town, but this year just the one gathering and it was crowded.
I told the priest to keep the homily short and he did.
Around the world, Ash Wednesday is one of the most well attended religious services and we certainly had an outpouring for our English Catholic Community.