Auckland’s Catholic and Anglican bishops, in combined Service of Ashes. observed Ash Wednesday
and prayed for the people of Christchurch
The combined Catholic and Anglican Ash Wednesday service which is held each year at one of their two cathedral churches in the city took place on Wednesday evening in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Wyndham Street.
Catholic Bishop Patrick Dunn and Anglican Bishop Ross Bay officiated and the choirs of the two cathedrals combined for the service.
The Administrator of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Monsignor Bernard Kiely, said that there was a special poignancy in this Ash Wednesday service. “Ashes remind us of the shortness of life’s journey. How poignant it is that this year’s Ash Wednesday falls on the first anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake in which so many lives were cut short,” he said.
The ceremony began with the lighting of a candle by the two bishops to commemorate those whose lives were lost in the Christchurch earthquake and its aftermath, while special prayers were said for them and for all the people of Christchurch.
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