Contrary to many other dioceses, the Bishop of Willemstad has maintained the tradition of palm ash crosses on the foreheads of Roman Catholic believers today on Ash Wednesday.
Pope Francis had earlier announced that this year, ashes would instead be strewn over churchgoers due to coronavirus COVID-19 precautions. The decision to nevertheless continue this custom in the Dutch Caribbean was made after consultations with local authorities, but recipients must wear a face mask. The priest will utter the related sentence “from dust to dust” – normally spoken before applying every cross – only once at the beginning, while those who get one may not answer with the usual “Amen.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/ash-wednesday-ritual
Some thoughts picked up amongst believers:
* The best way for proliferation of the virus.
* And priests without masks,…, this time they wore pants.
* A bishop who disobeys the pope, that’s the end of his career.
* People will be surprised how fast this “from dust to dust” will become them.
* So the government has prohibited the Amen word. That’s okay, but what about the rest?
It is thought by government that it’s no problem if religious people get infected and die, because they like to be close to their god.