Would you like a blessing with that? Church creates thoroughly modern “drive thru” Ash Wednesday service..

Each year Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, the preparation before Easter in the Christian calendar and although its date changes every year it usually falls the day after Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day). Catholic Tradition is to attend a Mass at which foreheads are marked with ash in shape of a cross. In the Bible this is a symbol of a person’s ownership and having their foreheads marked with the sign of cross means that the person belongs to Jesus Christ.

But with modern lifestyles becoming more and more hectic many find it impossible to make time for religious observations. Fr Paddy Mooney from St Patrick’s Church in Glenamaddy, County Galway has found a way around this and marked the beginning of the Christian season with a unique drive-through Ash Wednesday service. Locals had the opportunity to drive to the door of the church, receive their ashes and drive off to work, school or other day to day activities.

Hundreds of people have marked the start of Lent by attending a “drive thru” Ash Wednesday service in Glenamaddy, Co Galway pic.twitter.com/s6XBdmfhaW

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 1, 2017

Fr Paddy Mooney has said of the new initiative, “We just couldn’t have anticipated how popular it would be – thankfully there were four of us on hand because we had hundreds to get through, but everyone was very patient.”

-@elizas_music