What Is ‘Ashes To Go'? Where To Get 'ATG' In New York

If you're someone without a lot of time to spare, but who wants to observe Lent, you might be in luck. Catholic churches are enabling people to bypass Mass and actually get “drive-through” ashes. Imposing ashes on one’s forehead is a sign of penitence that the early Christians adopted, but within the last few years, it has evolved ... with some churches bringing the ashes directly to the streets.

Though it's a custom for Catholics to sit through mass, in 2010 three Chicago-area churches took ashes to suburban train stations and noticed that people were happy to indulge in a moment of grace and receive the ashes before heading to work. In 2012, that initiative, “Ashes to Go,” caught on nationally, and a year later the idea went international, with churches in the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa also practicing the easy penitence method.

According to the “Ashes to Go” website, the quick way getting ashes is about “bringing spirit, belief, and belonging out from behind church doors, and into the places where we go every day.” The site adds that though the "to go" way is simple, there is a deeper meaning -- where busy people can have a “contemporary moment of grace.”

For those who are interested in finding "Ashes to Go" in the New York area, check out the list below, courtesy of the official Ashes to Go organization.

Albany, N.Y.

St Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Contact: The Rev. Mary White

Where Ashes to Go will be offered:

7:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. on the church steps at 10 North Main Ave.

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Episcopal Community Services

Contact: Juan Carlos Ruiz

Where Ashes to Go will be offered:

26 Federal Plaza

Floral Park, N.Y.

St. Elisabeth’s