Australia: Ash Wednesday, February 14 (2)

Bummer….  I wanted to show the Ash Wednesday service at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta.  I couldn’t take any pictures myself because I was part of the ceremony but there were some good shots in the Catholic Outlook newspaper that I thought I could use.  Unfortunately I’m getting an error message when I try to go to the images page at the paper’s website, something about a security error at Flickr.  I’ll use just the two photos that I have.  And maybe you can go to the photos’ site by clicking here.


This is beginning of the Ash Wednesday service in Parramatta. I concelebrated with Bishop Vincent Long. You can barely see me between the deacon (with the upraised book) and the bishop.
After the mass there was an official launch of Project Compassion in the diocese with Cathy Hammond (communications officer for Caritas Australia), Charlie Dittmeier, Paul O’Callaghan (CEO of Caritas Australia), Bishop Vincent Long, and Sr. Louise McKeogn (social justice coordinator for the diocese).