Ashes for sale?

[LATReligionWrit]

Hello forum,

I’m Francisco Vara-Orta, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times in the religion department who’s working on a story about how ashes are produced and sold through church suppliers as opposed to a church making their own.

I have a few questions and thought since this board appears very active that I would pose a few questions to the community here to gain some insight on the topic.

Do some of your churches buy ashes or do most still make their own?

What are some of the reasons a church would have to buy them: lack of staff to burn, lack of palms, or environmental issues? Is it just cheaper or easier?

Are there certain laws or environmental issues at hand in keeping churches from burning palms outdoors?

Does it bother any Catholics that anyone could buy a bag of these ashes?

At what point are they blessed if purchased?

I’m looking for as many California connections as possible and hopefully some L.A. area contacts or people for the story that I could interview. But I would also like to interview anyone in the nation who really has dealt with this issue.

Also, on another note, has anyone seen more and more Protestant churches celebrate Ash Wednesday? If so, why and how do they handle the ashes acquirement process?

Thank you so much to anyone who’s read this and also to those who care to comment or help me out. I’ve learned a lot already reading the board today.

Here’s my contact information:
Francisco Vara-Orta
Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Office: (213) 237-7233
800 LATIMES, Ext. 77233
Fax: (213) 237-4712
francisco.varaorta@latimes.com

Thank you.

 

[puzzleannie]

any outlet that sells church supplies, communion bread etc. sells ashes as well, so do many publishers that sell devotional items for lent. As long as they are actually ashes from palm or related plant and blessed by the priest for the purpose of Ash Wednesday devotions, they are fine to use. As a child I remember bringing in our “old” palms that had adorned statues and crucifixes at home for the past year, to be burnt. The reason being that the palms were blessed in the first place, which makes them a sacramental (blessed object for sacred use) and burning is the proper way to dispose of sacramentals. Having been involved in parish admin for 20 yrs or so, I never recall serving at a parish where the ashes for Ash Wed (and palms for Palm Sunday) were not purchased from a religious supply house.

 

[LATReligionWrit]

Thanks puzzleannie!

So to clarify, it is common to purchase the ashes? What church do you work for and where is it located?

I graduated from St. Mary’s University, loacted in my hometown of San Antonio, and it never occured to me to ask at mass how they got their ashes.

It looks like you’re based in Southeast TX, I just moved to L.A. from S.A. (BTW, I miss my Tex-Mex everyday.)

Thank you so much for the feedback and I hope others will share their thoughts as well.

 

[mommyof4]

Recently, our Priest was telling us that it is much easier to purchase ashes vs. making them himself. He told me that the palms do not burn easily, it takes a long time for the palms to burn, and for safety reasons, they must be monitored during the burning process. Then, after they are burned, they still need to be ground up with some sort of pestal (sp?) and gound very fine.

Hope this helps.

 

[jmcrae]

Speaking as someone who knows next to nothing about this, I had always been under the impression that people turned in their palm branches from last year, and that the priests burned them ahead of time. I’ve never seen them available for sale, and I can’t really imagine what anyone other than a priest would do with Ash Wednesday ashes, if they were to buy them. (Maybe fertilize a garden …?)

The blessing of the ashes happens just before they are distributed - the priest sprinkles holy water on them and says a short prayer.

 

[Kanda]

I don’t know too much about this topic either, but I thought I’d tell you what we do at our parish.

Volunteers go to our local cemetery to gather palm fronds. Where I live in Ca palm trees are a pretty popular landscaping choice. That is where the fresh ones come from every year and we usually have more than enough.

People bring their ‘old’ ones in to burn. The priest sprinkles them with holy water to bless them before they are distributed.

I always just thought that this was the way it was done. I never imagined that you could go buy ashes, but I suppose it does make sense.

Good luck on your piece.