PETALING JAYA, May 19 - Father Timothy Pelc set social media abuzz with pictures of him spraying holy water at churchgoers while maintaining social distancing.
What amused many were images of the Detroit priest, who gave Easter blessings using a squirt gun loaded with holy water, to spray devotees in a car.
The images of him were taken on Easter day, April 12, but only recently blew up on social sites such as Twitter and Reddit.
Images were originally shared in the St Ambrose Parish Facebook group that showed the priest in ceremonial robe, but also donning more out of the norm protective gear such as face mask, face shield and gloves.
He told BuzzFeed News that he came up with the idea of using a water gun to bless parishioners from a distance after consulting on the idea with a doctor who gave him the green light to do so.
“Parishioners were going to celebrate an Easter like no other, so I thought about this idea that we could still observe while observing social distancing measures.”
Pelc was amazed at how widely the photo of him has been circulated online and how much the pictures have resonated with people all over the world.
Twitter user Jeff Barnaby also shared the priest’s image in his Twitter account that had already garnered over 500,000 likes and has been receiving hilarious comments from netizens.
A Priest giving social distance blessings with a squirt pistol and what, I'm assuming, is Holy water. 2020 folks. pic.twitter.com/iDnYs33hs9
— Jeff Barnaby (@tripgore) May 15, 2020
@HelenWilbers meanwhile posted a picture of a mini wafer-dispenser and commented, “Load up one of these with wafers and fill another squirt gun with wine and you get a social distance communion.
Another user, @HNSeal2 drew on a bible verse in tweeting, “When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but also make time for some fun along the way.”
Reddit users meanwhile shared their thoughts on it, with saying, “I’m imagining a horror movie where a nun gets attacked by demons and she defends herself by shooting them with a water gun,” while another said that the act of spraying the holy water is dubbed “The Holy Squirt”.
