No blessings for now

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Long time lurker first time venting.

I ordered a new rosary to replace my old rosary. My old rosary is very fragile and falls apart— almost every time I use it I need to put it back together with a pliers or new wire.

It means a lot to me to have rosaries blessed. I know it isn’t needed for the prayers to be heard but it seems to give the beads purpose. It consecrates the rosary in a way that elevates the beads from simple necklace to sacramental according to the catechism. In these dark times a blessing would be very much appreciated.

I called my church three weeks ago and left a message for the priest asking if I stopped by if he would have time to preform a blessing for my new rosary since the old one is deteriorating. No response.

A week later after that phone call I sent an email and one of the office secretaries got back to me a few days later. She told me the priest should be able to work something out with me and to call the priest again so I called and left another message. That was two weeks ago. I still haven’t gotten any response.

I would suit up with gloves, a mask, and plenty of hand sanitizer, I would stay more than six feet away and not even make the priest hold my rosary, if only he would get back to me. A this point I’ve tried reaching out several times. I honestly don’t even feel welcome at that parish to begin with anyway. If I’m still alive after covid 19 I’ll switch churches.

In addition to no Eucharist, no reconciliation, and no holy water, there are no blessings.
 
This should be easy to resolve.

Call another parish, or if any are having their churches open for private prayer just stop by. Any priest or deacon can bless a rosary, and the short form takes literally about 5 seconds.

Sorry for the difficulty you are having,
Deacon Christopher
 
The article says my area allows for appointments. However my church isn’t responding.
 
Probably, if I don’t die before everything reopens— I am at risk. Besides, the lockdown could last months. The rosary is one comfort I still have and I was just hoping for a simple blessing. I know it isn’t necessarily needed. It’s more being ignored totally by the priest. I would respect a “no” far more than being ignored.
 
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aaaaa said:
Probably, if I don’t die before everything reopens— I am at risk. Besides, the lockdown could last months. The rosary is one comfort I still have and I was just hoping for a simple blessing. I know it isn’t necessarily needed. It’s more being ignored totally by the priest. I would respect a “no” far more than being ignored.
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I understand that it is inconvenient at this time to not have your rosary blessed by a priest. There are people in the church who are facing many serious things. Baptisms are held, confirmations are held. There are people who are not receiving anointing of the sick. Or those dying who aren’t receiving last rights. Your rosary is most certainly not just a necklace. This is just one of those things that seems like is inconvenient for you, that should be offered up . It seems like you maybe could accept that lack of answer from your priest, as being the answer “no”. You could call around to other parishes, like was suggested. Or wait until more normal times come again
 
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Of course more “serious” things are putting being put on hold— even my wedding was cancelled because of covid. I may also be one of those who are not going to receive anointing the sick if or when I become ill. A five second blessing seems like a small consolation a priest make to show he is still there for his flock though I do understand that isn’t possible now either. Silent treatment does translate into no but it’s never a professional response.
 
Don’t vent - venerate! Your prayer will be 100% as effective if you use no Rosary at all! Since we are in “unusual” times, please grant some slack to the parish staff, especially Father.

Rather than focusing on the negative, look at all the positives! Consider: You are alive. You are well enough to pray. You have the blessings both of having worn your old Rosary out (God smiles on that!) as well as a new Rosary to begin wearing out.

Everything in due time, but you can offer that Rosary to God with great faith today. Maybe even offer a Rosary for Father and the parish staff.

True love waits.
 
Who really gives the blessing on a new rosary? It’s God, right? Ask him if he would be so kind as to bless your rosary for you since priests are not available. God is able, and he doesn’t have his hands tied or something like that because a priest isn’t there. He created the universe without human help.
 
Priests and parish staff are busier right now than normal, and the past couple of weeks trying to arrange Holy Week were very taxing.
 
Just call another priest. Some priests aren’t good at communication, some may be overworked trying to handle Holy Week and all this other stuff too. Try not to take it personally. I know it’s hard to feel like a priest is ignoring you; if it makes you feel better, I often feel that way because I’m just some old widow without a big family or kids or even a spouse, and I’m not down at the parish volunteering for everything or fawning over the priests and deacons, so I am ignored just about all the time. I try to offer it up for humility and remind myself that I’m not there to be noticed and that it’s better that I am not noticed.
 
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True, you get to see true colors so to speak in a situation like this. Who still picks up the phone to be there for their people, and who is patient, etc. At the very least I can be more patient.
 
Based off my experience and my parish it’s, without a doubt, not worth it to be involved in the parish. I was heavily involved in my last church and the politics were so awful it was absolutely hurtful to my faith. It was so unchristian how they treated people the deacon was forced to leave the church. It’s good to remember priests and deacons are very human and susceptible to the same sins as us all. Now at church I always blend in as much as possible and I’m so much happier.
 
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TheLittleLady said:
Priests and parish staff are busier right now than normal
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This. Priests around here are really tired and overworked, having had to manage Holy Week in highly unusual conditions, which came on top of trying to keep a community alive when everybody’s confined at home.
 
My priest uploads a mass video once, maybe twice a week. The website hasn’t been updated in over month. Everything is cancelled. I don’t see how he is too strained for even a five second blessing but it is what it is.
 
aaaaa said:
Everything is cancelled. I don’t see how he is too strained for even a five second blessing but it is what it is.
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Maybe the priest himself is ill, or has health issues that necessitates him to avoid people at this time. Maybe the priest would like to avoid unnecessary social contact as is recommended. Maybe other parishioners are also seeking him to break social distancing guidelines, for requests that can truly wait until the pandemic is over
 
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