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Churchgoers Fall Ill After Using Holy Water At Notre Dame

IMG_0298The well-known Catholic prayer states “By this holy water and by Your Precious Blood, wash away all my sins, O Lord.”  It appears however that the next question for the faithful at Notre Dame may be “what washes away the holy water?”  A significant number of churchgoers in Paris are complaining about failing ill after using the holy water at Notre Dame.  It is not a unique problem according to some studies.

Churchgoers complained of a tingling sensation around their faces after signing themselves with the holy water. Health officials are investigating and one priest admitted that “It smelled especially bad, this water.”
The priest suggested foul play. However, past studies have indicated that there is a high level of fecal contamination in holy water.  For example, Austrian researchers discovered that church fonts contained high levels of bacteria and a majority of water samples from holy sources contained fecal matter. The Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna analyzed the water in 21 holy springs in Austria and in 18 fonts in Vienna and found that 86 percent of water samples contain fecal matter, and every milliliter of holy water contained up to 62 million bacteria.

Such contamination would be understandable given the hundreds of people putting their hands and fingers into the water.  The same concern has been raised in masses where wine is passed from churchgoer to churchgoer.  Contamination in such public places would normally raise questions of negligence, though the religious component raises significant constitutional issues.

Even if the water were tampered with by hostile forces, there is a question of the reasonableness of the level of testing or protection of such common resources. There are also assumption issues for those utilizing such common fonts, though they could note that it is a religious practice of the Church.

Do you think that the Church should be found liable in the holy water was tainted?

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