The effects of COVID-19 have caused an unconventional start of Lent as worshippers this year received ashes by having them sprinkled on the top of their head. In his Lenten Pastoral Letter for 2021, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB spoke about how this six-week period is an opportunity for the faithful to acknowledge sinfulness as a serious matter that can have destructive effects on others and on ourselves.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has published an online Lenten Calendar for this year’s Lent and Easter to honour and remember modern martyrs who heroically offered their lives for God and their communities.