ODESSA, Texas — When people arrived at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Church for service this past Sunday it was the first time they had been greeted by holy water in nearly 5 months.
COVID-19 has forced so many changes in our lives. For catholic churches one of those changes included no more Holy Water during services because the font wasn't considered sanitary.
Holy water is a tradition in the catholic religion though, so an Odessa pastor found a way to bring it back into his church.
"As people enter the church for Sunday service to remind themselves they were baptized they take a little bit of water and bless themselves," said Father Mark, who's held his position at the church since 1996. "Over the years I've often thought that our holy water fonts aren't the most sanitary, you know a lot of people been dipping their hands in it after awhile its very possible that germs have gotten in there."
Father Mark got the idea after he saw a holy water font that would just squirt water into someone's hand, rather than them having to stick their hand in the bowl.
For the first time in 5 month, church members were able to bless themselves. Father Mark stood in the doorway explaining how the new fonts work; they're similar to automatic hand sanitizer dispensers.
"Each person who comes in is a little bit nervous because they've never seen anything like this before," said Ft. Mark as he chuckled.
COVID-19 may have prompted this change, but Father Mark says the new fonts are around to stay.