LOCAL — Book-bearer Brandon Smith is catching heat at a St. James Catholic Church after he accidentally flipped to the Mass for Ash Wednesday at the Easter Wednesday daily Mass. “That little boy just elongated our Lent,” said long-time parishioner Nancy Crews.

Parishioners were outraged also at 75-year-old Father Joseph McMahon, a veteran priest and the celebrant of the Mass, who prayed the prayers without realizing that they were not the prayers of the day. One parishioner told The Roman Caller, “I could understand not recognizing that it was the wrong prayer at the beginning, but then he continued reciting the wrong prayers for the entire thing!”

After a homily about the need to do penance “during these forty days of Lent” McMahon ordered Smith to get the ashes from the sacristy cabinet, and made a passing comment about the sacristan “not being on top of things.”

Parishioners balked for a second, but in the end McMahon had ordered all twenty attendees to start processing up to the front for Ashes. “We had no choice,” explained Crews, “we had to go receive ashes on Easter Wednesday. I was supposed to go to brunch with some friends after this, but I think I might just go home now.”

McMahon told The Roman Caller in an interview that he had never seen parishioners so hesitant to get ashes. “People must really have something against the church or maybe we didn’t advertise enough, but I remember last year a ton of people coming here on Ash Wednesday.” When asked whether he realized that it was the Octave of Easter, McMahon yelled, “I know what I read!” and hung up the phone.

At press time, McMahon was ordering the sacristans to remove the flowers and to cover the statues until Easter.