Running start to Lent: Phoenix church providing ashes to go on Ash Wednesday

PHOENIX — Phoenix believers who are in a hurry or don’t have time to get to a church on Ash Wednesday can stop their worrying.

St. Mary’s Episcopal Church has set up shop at the light rail stop at 19th and Montebello avenues to provide busy churchgoers with ashes.

“Frequently people are working two or three jobs and unable to celebrate Ash Wednesday with their own faith community,” Vicar Craig Bustrin said. “People are very grateful that we’re doing this.”

Bustrin is happy to provide the service and is not out to preach to everyone riding the light rail.

“Obviously, we don’t force [the ashes] on anyone,” he said.

People who want to practice but need to be on the move said they appreciate the ashes.

“With work and everything, this is my second year of coming here,” Diana Meza said.

Ash Wednesday is recognized as the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period during which people give up certain items or luxuries as a form of penitence in the buildup to Easter.

Related

Authorities identify victims, suspect killed in stabbing that led to Gilbert Police shootingHome where astronaut Neil Armstrong’s boyhood dreams of flying took off is for saleTupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas in 1996. Here’s who was there that nightDuane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, charged with organizing the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, is on trial28 indicted in Arizona gun trafficking ring that funneled AK-style rifles toward MexicoAlleged sex worker, underage boyfriend arrested in connection with fatal Phoenix apartment shooting