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IN deference to the Chinese culture celebration of a
new lunar year, Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Catholics were granted
exemption from fasting and abstinence in observance of Ash Wednesday
this year.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio
Cardinal Rosales, in a circular, issued the dispensation following a
request from the Chinese community as Ash Wednesday fell on the eve
of the Chinese’s traditional celebration of the new lunar year.
The request was coursed through
Msgr. Bong Lo, who is the vicar for the Chinese and Chinese-Filipino
Catholic community.
Rosales said he granted the
exemption “in the spirit of pastoral solidarity with our Catholic
Chinese and Chinese-Filipino brothers and sisters.”
Ash Wednesday marks the first
day, or the start of the season of Lent, which begins 40 days before
Easter. The season of Lent is a time when Christians observe a
period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline.
But in the same circular, Rosales
stressed that those granted exemption on Ash Wednesday should
observe fasting and abstinence instead on Good Friday.
“This means that Chinese
believers can receive a special dispensation to observe the ritual
another day,” Fr. Genaro Diwa of the Manila archdiocese’s
liturgical affairs explained.
In Chinese culture, ashes
symbolically represent pain and suffering and many Chinese Catholics
do not want to receive such on a day of rejoicing, like the
observance of the Chinese New Year.
--William B. Depasupil
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