WATCH: Ash Wednesday Mass at El Paso’s St. Patrick Cathedral

EL PASO, Texas — El Paso Catholic Diocese Bishop Mark Seitz presided over a pandemic-aware Ash Wednesday service at St. Patrick Cathedral, with reduced participation of the faithful and a revised rite to reduce the chance of infection amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ash Wednesday ushers in the Lenten season leading up to Easter. Under guidelines being followed by the Diocese, a masked priest delivers the prayer just once during the ritual and sprinkles ashes on the head of the faithful, to ensure maximum social distancing.

Traditionally, priests smudge a cross on the forehead of the faithful, in a sign of repentance, but this year it is a sprinkling instead.