Photos: Catholics around the Lehigh Valley attended services to mark Ash Wednesday, observed on the first day of Lent.

March 4 meant an annual milestone for thousands of local residents, possibly including participation in an Ash Wednesday church gathering. Students from Mead Hall and St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School were among participants in Aiken gatherings to mark the start of Lent,

In the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, the Rev. Edward Yuhas of St. James and St. Katharine Drexel parishes in Washington County begins collecting palm branches from

With a solemn mark of ashes on their foreheads, worshippers across Sonoma County gathered to observe Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season.

T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Eucharistic Minister Paula Pollock marks the foreheads of Ana Vazquez and J.P. Paredes with ashes on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in St. Clairsville.

Trinity Lutheran Church in Mount Joy hosted Ash Wednesday activities geared toward children and youth Wednesday evening. Open to the public, the event featured a soup supper; a church service;

Many Chicago Catholics participated in Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent.

Dan Ayers, a priest with the Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, makes the sign of the cross with ashes on a congregant's forehead at an Ash Wednesday service at St. Paul Catholic Church on March 5,

New York’s Catholics observe the start of Lent throughout the city on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Today marks the beginning of Christianity’s 40 days of prayer, fasting and giving