UC Merced observes Ash Wednesday with first on-campus Mass

Clear skies and Little Lake at UC Merced created a harmonious background to the university’s first Ash Wednesday Mass led by Bishop Armando Ochoa of the Diocese of Fresno.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent for Catholics around the world. The season lasts 40 days, not counting Sundays, and ends on Easter, which this year falls on March 27. The 40-day observance is meant to symbolize the 40 days Jesus is said to have spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry.

As part of the Ash Wednesday rituals, a member of the clergy dabs ashes in the form of a cross on believers’ foreheads, as a reminder that “one is of dust and to dust one will return.”

The Catholic Newman Club at UC Merced has held services for the distribution of ashes in previous years, but this is the first time the club has been able to arrange for a full Mass.

Michaela Shanahan, a third-year student and treasurer of UC Merced’s Catholic Newman Club, said the Mass is a big help to students, staff and faculty who want to participate in a traditional celebration on this date. “We’ve never had a priest here for this,” Shanahan said. “We are really excited about this idea.”

And the idea, Shanahan explained, came from the bishop himself. He contacted St. Patrick’s Church in Merced to make arrangements.

This was Bishop Ochoa’s first visit to the 10-year-old UC Merced campus. The bishop explained that he has presided over Ash Wednesday celebrations at Fresno State in the past, and it had been in his plans to travel to the youngest UC campus.

“Every year on Ash Wednesday I like to go to a university in my diocese,” Ochoa said. “ I enjoy doing this; instead of students having to cut class to receive ashes, it’s easier for me to go to them.”

Ochoa said Ash Wednesday is the busiest day for the Catholic Church. At St. John’s Cathedral in Fresno, Ochoa’s home church, there are two masses plus 19 ash services planned. Churches in Merced County also celebrated Mass and distributed ashes throughout the day.

“The daily communicants want to come to Mass and receive the ashes, but the vast majority of the folks who are going to be coming to our churches might find themselves only here on Ash Wednesday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day,” he said.

The bishop also stayed after the Mass celebration to take confessions for those looking to obtain forgiveness in light of the season.

Bishop Ochoa is scheduled to wake up early Thursday to fly to Mexico, where he will join Pope Francis’ tour on two stops. Ochoa will be present during Saturday’s Holy Mass at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. He then will travel to Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan, known for being a hotspot in the country’s ongoing drug war.

The pontiff also will visit Chiapas, a state with a large indigenous community. His last stop will be in the border town of Juarez.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "UC Merced observes Ash Wednesday with first on-campus Mass."