Photo ~ The palm ash applied on Ash Wednesday is a symbol of death and sorrow for sin. Increasingly, churches purchase commercially produced ash rather than preparing their own. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Ash Wednesday: Churches make last-minute calls to ash merchants

There was a time when churches prepared for Ash Wednesday by burning the dried palms from the previous Palm Sunday. Many still do. More and more churches, however, are buying commercially produced ashes online.

But there’s a catch: Order early.

“We just had a call 10 minutes ago,” said Mark Gould, owner of Religious Supply Service in Davenport, Iowa. “We’ve had them all day long.”

Gould was speaking Tuesday, one day before the start of Lent.

A few days earlier, Religious Supply Service had posted a note on its website saying, “Sorry, sold out for the season.” That didn’t stop churches from calling the company for a last-minute shipment.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Gould said that his company was still trying to accommodate desperate customers. For some small churches, though, the bill would be tough to swallow. As Gould put it -- $30 or $40 to overnight a $6 bag of ashes.

One ounce of commercially produced ash can grace about 250 foreheads. The ash, often produced by commercial palm growers in Texas and Florida, is sold by church supply companies nationwide. Enough ash to serve 100 people costs about $4.

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