Ash Wednesday Notes
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. A few quick notes:
- The Ash Wednesday Mass Schedule can be found at https://www.whatcomcatholic.org/mass
- Catholics are required to fast and abstain from meat, according to the laws of the Church. This means:
- For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.
- The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.
- Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, through attending one of our liturgies is an excellent way to mark the beginning of Lent.
- We are not allowed to simply give people ashes. Ashes must be distributed in the context of a full liturgy. As such, we will not be providing ashes to people who drop by the parish office, nor will we be sending ashes home with anyone except parish ministers trained in the liturgy. You can read more about this in my 2022 Pastor’s Note: https://frmoore.com/2022/03/04/march-04-2022-pastors-note/
Tax Returns
A parishioner recently reminded me that tax returns are soon to come in the mail. Many of us do not budget for these returns and treat them like a bonus. As such, would you be willing to tithe on your tax returns, so that out churches can get a bonus, too?
Liminal Coffee Shop
On Thursday I attended “Pastor’s Day” at the Liminal Coffee shop, which is opening this week. It is located on the ground floor of Lighthouse Mission’s new building, on the corner of Holly and F streets in Bellingham. (Official website, CDN article, Bellingham Herald article)
“Liminal” is a word coming from the Latin word for door frame, and it refers to a space between two spaces. Liminal Coffee Shop is a ministry of Lighthouse Mission, with the goal of providing meaningful employment opportunities for folks on their way out of homelessness. I am so proud of Lighthouse for the monumentous achievement of opening its new building and for envisioning this coffee shop as part of its new complex.
I was able to chat briefly with Hans Erchinger-Davis, the director of the Mission, who provided some additional good news:
- In addition to the coffee shop, Lighthouse is working on other employment training opportunities for their clients, including courses in 3D-Printing and commercial cooking (which could potentially spin-off into a Lighthouse-sponsored catering service).
- Lighthouse’s new building has separate living spaces for clients who are temporarily struggling with housing (think couch-surfing or living in their car) versus clients who have persistent and profound issues with mental health or addiction. Hans reports that this has significantly increased and expedited the “graduation rate” for the couch-surfers, as they are more comfortable seeking help from the Mission and are better able to access the services that they need. (Related Seattle Times op-ed for those interested: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/why-housing-first-isnt-the-answer-to-seattles-homelessness-crisis/)
Fr. Moore 