Holy Water Question

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CathMomof3

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We recently got a new pastor at our parish. There are many things that I am quite concerned about. This is just one…

He put in a large baptism font/pool. It is emptied every Monday morning due to a safety concern for the school children. Then it is filled every Friday afternoon so it is full during the weekend. They add some clorine to the water to help keep it clean. First, is that okay to add a chemical to what should be holy water? Second, the only time this water is blessed is right before a baptism. I guess I wouldn’t have a problem with this except I found out that the water that they put into the little fonts at the church entrance is from this pool which contains unblessed water. We do have water that was blessed on Easter but the new priest refuses to use it saying “it’s much dirtier than what is in the baptism pool.” This is not true plus the water in the pool gets really slimey at times.

I am assuming it is very wrong to put unblessed water in the small fonts. So, what should I do??
 
Water, unless it’s recently distilled, will always have other ‘stuff’ disolved in it. Minerals if it’s well water, minerals, floride and clorine if it’s from the tap.

So don’t be concerned about adding clorine to it. The guiding principle is that there should be in a form that is commonly considered to be water.

And I would double check on if it’s only blessed just before a Baptism. The Rite of Baptism includes a Blessing for the Water, and this is always done, even if it’s the same font and water used for a Baptism an hour ago.

If the water was blessed by the priest or deacon at any point before the water was used as Sacramental, it’s fine.
 
The problem is that there are very few baptism at our church so the water rarely gets blessed. And the water is emptied out on Monday morning whether it is blessed or not. But they are using this water (which is unblessed) for the small fonts in the enterance to church. This is were my concern lies. I fnd it very disheartening knowing that people are making the Sign of the Cross as they enter church with unblessed water.
 
It seems ridiculous to install a large font, only to keep draining and refilling it every week. If it is that much of a safety concern, then it should be secured or else removed.
 
Someone once told me that if you wanted to “make” holy water, all you needed to do was to fill a container with tap water and then add a few drops of holy water, and the whole container would then become holy water. I don’t know if this is true or not, but if so, all they would need to do at the church would be to put a few drops from one of the little fonts into the baptismal pool after filling it, and it would be OK. It does seem like a huge waste of time, energy, and water to keep filling and emptying that pool every week, though. :confused:
 
CarrieH said:
Someone once told me that if you wanted to “make” holy water, all you needed to do was to fill a container with tap water and then add a few drops of holy water, and the whole container would then become holy water.
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That is definitatly NOT the case. Holy Water is ‘made’ when a priest or deacon blesses it. This can be done simply, and often is.

It IS acceptable to add water to Holy Water, but it cannot be done in such a way that the water being added is greater in volume than the Holy Water itself.
 
CathMomof3 said:
The problem is that there are very few baptism at our church so the water rarely gets blessed. And the water is emptied out on Monday morning whether it is blessed or not. But they are using this water (which is unblessed) for the small fonts in the enterance to church. This is were my concern lies. I fnd it very disheartening knowing that people are making the Sign of the Cross as they enter church with unblessed water.
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Mom of 3, the question is, how do you KNOW that the water isn’t blessed?

The blessing of water during the Rite of Baptism is a requirement of the rite, EVEN IF the water is already blessed.

So imaging this, the font is filled friday afternoon, your pastor comes along and blesses the font Friday evening. The sacristan fills the small fonts with this water on Sat. afternoon.

A Baptism is scheduled for that Sunday, and the you see the priest bless the water ( as he should do every time he baptises)

So you draw from that that the water in the font was not blessed, when, in fact, it had been blessed Friday evening.

So the question remains, how do you know that the priest did not bless the water on Friday or Saturday morning? Did you ask him?
 
To not have blessed water, a sacramental, is to deprive people. So the problems are not having any blessed water at all in the font all week, and having unblessed water in small fonts. That is a deception and very sad. I don’t know if there are regulations about this, except that you cannot put sand, etc. in fonts at Lent, for ex. Boy, these priests sure need prayer!
 
Chatter163 said:
It seems ridiculous to install a large font, only to keep draining and refilling it every week. If it is that much of a safety concern, then it should be secured or else removed.
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That’s what I thought!

It’s not like it’s so hard to secure it either. Our Church has a removable metal grate partway down our baptismal pool so anyone who steps in would only be in a foot or so of water. (Yes, I know people can drown in less.) That makes it no deeper than the fountain in the courtyard which has no protection either. The grate is easily removed for emersion baptims.

It’s easy enough to install a low fence and gate around a pool too. The fence can leave the usual ‘raised fountain’ part of the structure accessable if it is used as a font for people to bless themselves.
 
In reply to Brendan (#7) ~

I know that the water is not blessed because the person who fills it on Friday afternoons (a very good friend of mine and someone who also has major concerns) has been told many times to also put water in the little fonts. And, like I said, we have very few baptisms. I don’t even think we have one a month.

As for the others who say it seems to be a complete waste of time, energy and water filling it every Friday - I COMPLETELY AGREE. Before this new priest came our parish did a huge fundraiser and added on a brand new Narthex. One parishioner donated the money for a beautiful new baptism font (not a pool-like one). It cost a fair chunck of money and now doesn’t get used because the new priest says that it is not acceptable because full emerion is the only way. (I know this to be false per the Catechism.) So, he had a huge pool-like font put in and then the parish pays my friend, who works for our church, to empty it, clean it and fill it every week. We do not have any filter system or pump in it so the water can get really gross.

Thanks for the comments. This is only one issue that we have with this priest. There are others that concern me even more but I am trying to get info on each issue so that we can discuss this next week as a group.
 
Okay I’m sorry to add this, but we had a priest who added to the church’s cookbook that was sold to raise money his recipe for Holy Water take one gallon of tap water and boil the hell out of it.
 
CathMomof3 said:
So, he had a huge pool-like font put in and then the parish pays my friend, who works for our church, to empty it, clean it and fill it every week. We do not have any filter system or pump in it so the water can get really gross.
Click to expand...
No filter or pump? Now THAT is gross.
 
CathMomof3 said:
We recently got a new pastor at our parish. There are many things that I am quite concerned about. This is just one…

He put in a large baptism font/pool. It is emptied every Monday morning due to a safety concern for the school children. Then it is filled every Friday afternoon so it is full during the weekend. They add some clorine to the water to help keep it clean. First, is that okay to add a chemical to what should be holy water? Second, the only time this water is blessed is right before a baptism. I guess I wouldn’t have a problem with this except I found out that the water that they put into the little fonts at the church entrance is from this pool which contains unblessed water. We do have water that was blessed on Easter but the new priest refuses to use it saying “it’s much dirtier than what is in the baptism pool.” This is not true plus the water in the pool gets really slimey at times.

I am assuming it is very wrong to put unblessed water in the small fonts. So, what should I do??
Click to expand...
The Holy water that used to be used in the fonts had salt in it. This tended to help prevent growth of things in the water. Having small amounts of clorine in it is not an issue. However if it’s emptied on Monday and refilled on Friday. I would ask two questions; 1. Is the blessed water from a Baptism diverted into the ground and not sent into the city drain. 2. Is the water used for blessing oneself on Sunday morning blessed?
 
CarrieH said:
Someone once told me that if you wanted to “make” holy water, all you needed to do was to fill a container with tap water and then add a few drops of holy water, and the whole container would then become holy water. I don’t know if this is true or not, but if so, all they would need to do at the church would be to put a few drops from one of the little fonts into the baptismal pool after filling it, and it would be OK. It does seem like a huge waste of time, energy, and water to keep filling and emptying that pool every week, though. :confused:
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You can add to Holy Water by adding **LESS **than 50% new water to a bottle of Holy Water that is already Blessed.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
The Holy water that used to be used in the fonts had salt in it. This tended to help prevent growth of things in the water.
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I had never heard this. How much salt was added? If it was just a little, that would actually be more favorable for growth of bacteria.
Br. Rich SFO:
You can add to Holy Water by adding LESS than 50% new water to a bottle of Holy Water that is already Blessed.
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Can you then take that bottle of holy water, and mix it with a slightly smaller quantity, to almost double it? And so on?🤓
 
CathMomof3 said:
In reply to Brendan (#7) ~

I know that the water is not blessed because the person who fills it on Friday afternoons (a very good friend of mine and someone who also has major concerns) has been told many times to also put water in the little fonts. And, like I said, we have very few baptisms. I don’t even think we have one a month.

As for the others who say it seems to be a complete waste of time, energy and water filling it every Friday - I COMPLETELY AGREE. Before this new priest came our parish did a huge fundraiser and added on a brand new Narthex. One parishioner donated the money for a beautiful new baptism font (not a pool-like one). It cost a fair chunck of money and now doesn’t get used because the new priest says that it is not acceptable because** full emerion is the only way**. (I know this to be false per the Catechism.) So, he had a huge pool-like font put in and then the parish pays my friend, who works for our church, to empty it, clean it and fill it every week. We do not have any filter system or pump in it so the water can get really gross.

Thanks for the comments. This is only one issue that we have with this priest. There are others that concern me even more but I am trying to get info on each issue so that we can discuss this next week as a group.
Click to expand...
Now that stands out. You might have a Neocatechumenal Way inspired priest on your hands.
 
Digitonomy said:
I had never heard this. How much salt was added? If it was just a little, that would actually be more favorable for growth of bacteria.Can you then take that bottle of holy water, and mix it with a slightly smaller quantity, to almost double it? And so on?🤓
Click to expand...
I remember that Holy Water fonts when allowed to go dry would have a white powder in the bottom. I remember asking once as a kid and was told that it was the salt residue.

If you really don’t have access to a church to refill it. Generally lets say that a bottle holds 4 cups. When it gets halfway empty you can add a cup- cup and 1/2 of regular water. Eventually you will need to take it to the church and refill it with Holy Water because you are refilling it with less water than you took out.
 
sphilomena said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walking_Home
Now that stands out. You might have a Neocatechumenal Way inspired priest on your hands.

Please explain them.
Click to expand...
The following threads have information on the Neocatechumenal Way. I also included info on the Neocatechumenals in the thread “why are some rejecting the cup”.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=91153&highlight=neocatechumenal

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=92543&highlight=Neocat

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=127157&highlight=Neocat

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=23443&highlight=Neocatechumenal
 
CathMomof3 said:
Then it is filled every Friday afternoon so it is full during the weekend. They add some clorine to the water to help keep it clean. First, is that okay to add a chemical to what should be holy water?
Click to expand...
Unless the chlorine is stabilized (such as dichlor or trichlor), or a stabilizer such as cyanuric acid is added to water, most all of the chlorine will dissepate in 24 hours. That’s why the water gets so gross later on in the week, because the chlorine is only in there a day or so.

As other posters have pointed out, water almost always has other stuff dissolved in it…but it’s still considered water.

Andy
 
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