Beginning this weekend and through to the second Sunday in Lent, parishioners are invited to bring in their old palms and place them in one of the baskets located on a table by the St. James statue. We will properly dispose them for you.*

*According to the Code of Canon Law, blessed items are not to be discarded in a trash can, but treated with respect (cf. #1171). At Mass these palm branches were set apart by a blessing from the priest and made into a “sacramental,” an object that is meant to draw us closer to the celebration of the seven sacraments. Throwing them in the trash ignores their sacred purpose and treats them like any other object we no longer need. We will burn them in order to properly dispose of them. This type of disposal honors their sacred purpose and returns them to the earth in a dignified way.