Several priests have reacted against their brother priests for keeping a social distance and baptising babies with a water pistol.

The photos appearing to depict blessings or baptisms by water pistol went viral online. In one photo, a priest points the pistol at a baby from several metres away.

The pistol's use was purportedly to meet the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic's "social distancing" rules.

Among the priests who have spoken out is canon law professor Fr. Pius Pietrzyk.

"Putting holy water into a squirt gun and treating it as if it were a comedy sketch ... is treating both the sacrament and the blessed water unworthily," he says.

The Catechism teaches that profaning sacred objects or treating them unworthily is a sin - the sin of sacrilege.

Fr. Stephen Klasek, who baptised the infant using the water pistol, has explained his reasons on his parish's Facebook page.

The Facebook post says the water pistol photo was intended to be humorous. It goes on to say the family had asked Klasek to pose for the photo in imitation of similar pictures on the internet. It also says the gun did not contain holy water and was not squirted at the baby.

The parish says it felt a need to "clarify the photo that has gone viral as we have been receiving inquiries about it."

"It has garnered almost a million views in Twitter, has been in the news in several websites and memes. It had good and controversial comments."

While Klasek's photo was apparently staged, other photos of priests using water pistols have been circulating the internet.

These include photos of a priest supposedly blessing parishioners with a water gun in Detroit. The priest involved says he had shot parishioners with holy water in a water gun as something "for the kids of the parish."

Pietrzyk is also cautioning people not to assume the intention in a specific instance was to mock the sacraments.

"I think we ought to proceed from the premise that it involves individuals who were attempting to make light of the difficulties of the coronavirus situation," he says.

At the same time, while the intent may have been lighthearted, the photos raise serious concerns.

Holy water is a sacramental, a material object meant to help us sanctify our lives and dispose us to better receive the graces of the sacraments.

It reminds us of the purifying power of baptism, and of Christ, who referred to himself as living water.

"Blessed objects, including holy water, should be treated with respect and reverence as things set aside to build up the life of faith," Pietrzyk says.

Source

• Catholic News Agency

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Bishop Dunn's comments, made to the New Zealand Herald, came ahead of performances by Madonna in Auckland.

"There is no question in my mind that some of Madonna's material is highly offensive to Christianity and will be found just as offensive to the majority of people of religious faith, as well as many cultural sensitivities," Bishop Dunn said.

For her Auckland concert, Madonna's stage will be at huge crucifix that will span the arena, with a heart-shaped "Rebel Heart" logo at the end.

The performances are said to feature a "holy water" segment which would feature dancers dressed as bikini-clad nuns performing on cross-shaped stripper poles.

This segment of her show was dropped from a recent concert in Singapore, after authorities deemed that it breached local guidelines.

Singapore's Archbishop William Goh said Catholics had a "moral obligation" not to support those who "denigrate and insult religions".

Bishop Dunn said he concurred with the comments made by his Singapore counterpart, but stopped short of asking his flock not to see Madonna.

He said the archbishop made a valid observation, especially in times of heightened religious sensitivities, that people could not afford to be overly permissive in favour of artistic expression at the expense of respect for one's religion.

"Here in New Zealand religion is not always taken very seriously, yet in addition to Christianity there are people of many other faiths, all together representing over half our population," he said.

"In a multi-cultural and multi-faith society like New Zealand, it is imperative that entertainers not presume their own cultural perspective is that of the majority. Often it is not."

In an interview with Radio Live, Bishop Dunn said there seemed to be greater licence to be offensive to Christians than to other faiths or ethnic groups.

"I'd bet every penny I've got that Madonna dare wouldn't use lyrics as offensive to Islam as she feels free to use with regard to Christianity. That's just a fact, that people would respond with outrage," Bishop Dunn said.

The bishop said he didn't want anything that denigrated Muslims or Maori or any value that people hold dear.

But he confirmed to an interviewer that he was effectively saying that Muslims and Maori seem to be better protected from insult and offense than Christians.

Bishop Dunn said he was calling for good manners and respect.

Sources

• New Zealand Herald
• Radio Live
• Catholic News Agency
• Channel News Asia
• Image: New Zealand Herald

Scientists at Vienna University medical school's Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology advised the faithful not to drink water, especially in hospital chapels.

They came to the conclusion after analyzing the water quality at 21 "holy" springs and 18 fonts at churches and chapels.

"We need to warn people against drinking from these sources," microbiologist Alexander Kirschner said in the study.

Kirschner said the healing effects ascribed to holy sources arose from the hygienic conditions of the Middle Ages, when water quality in urban areas was generally so poor that people constantly contracted diarrhoea or other conditions.

"If they then came across a protected spring in the forest that was not as polluted and drank from it for several days, their symptoms would disappear. So although in those days they were drinking healthier water, given the excellent quality of our drinking water today, the situation is now completely reversed."

Sources

Reuters

The Telegraph

Image: The Telegraph