Call for a Photo

[Kathleen Collins]

Today I saw on TV VP Biden with ashes on his forehead. Today is a very important day for the Catholics. I don't recall Kennedy with ashes, or for that matter Jackie. Does someone have a photo of either of them with such? One website I went to said there was never a photo of the President having ashes on his forehead.

They were Catholics, especially Jackie, who had the power to consult wth the Pope.

Kathy C

[Guest John Gillespie]

Today I saw on TV VP Biden with ashes on his forehead. Today is a very important day for the Catholics. I don't recall Kennedy with ashes, or for that matter Jackie. Does someone have a photo of either of them with such? One website I went to said there was never a photo of the President having ashes on his forehead.

They were Catholics, especially Jackie, who had the power to consult wth the Pope.

Kathy C

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Someone joked on the telly that what we saw on Biden today was the result of Obama putting out his smokes (supposedly part of the agreement to make J.B. part of the ticket).

I never haved thought particularly well of the people who flocked to church to get ashes every year and then wore them all day like some badge, as Biden did today. I always though it to be pretentious (ya think?), especially when I knew certain folks never to be much involved otherwise in the practice of the religion.

The ashes are taken from the burned palms from the previous Palm Sunday and they are sacramentals, rather than sacraments. The former are blessed by the Roman Catholic Church, like Holy Water. Still there?

But, being a Massachussetts guy who has seen thousands of pictures of the Kennedys for about five decades, I never have seen one of them with that telltale smudge

JG

Edited February 18, 2010 by John Gillespie