Catholics who attend Ash Wednesday services will look a little different, too.
COVID-19 protocols will prevent Catholic Diocese of Peoria priests from forming an ashen cross on the foreheads of worshippers Wednesday, as is typical on the first day of Lent.
Instead, priests are to sprinkle ashes atop each individual s head. No hand-to-head contact is expected.
According to Msgr. Philip Halfacre, the diocese vicar general, such application has been common pre-COVID on Ash Wednesday in Italy and some other European countries. We re all kind of new at this method, so it s kind of learn as you go, Halfacre said Friday.