Bless this house yourself: priest gives out DIY kits
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bless this house yourself: priest gives out DIY kits*
Tom Kington in Rome
Thursday April 26, 2007
The Guardian
The pace of life in Saluzzo, a walled hill town in the shadow of the
Italian Alps in Piedmont, has not changed much since the local castle
was built in the 13th century.
As is the custom in every Italian town around Easter, the priest has
always ventured out to bless the homes of his parishioners, stopping in
to recite a prayer, sprinkle holy water in each room and perhaps linger
for a coffee and a biscuit.
But things have changed this year in Saluzzo after its priest,
Michelangelo Priotto, got so fed up wandering the narrow alleys of the
town and finding no one at home that he decided to provide the faithful
with do-it-yourself home blessing kits.
"To find everyone at home it was increasingly necessary to visit homes
after dinner, which would have meant months to get to everyone," said Fr
Priotto, who is giving away 3,500 home kits containing a picture of
Jesus, a prayer to read out and a small bottle of holy water.
The distribution of kits in the 9,000-strong parish was launched after
the limited success of previous schemes, including enrolling priests
from other parishes to help bang on doors and the blessing of entire
apartment buildings in one go.
Fr Priotto said that even if priests no longer visited homes to carry
out the blessing, the use of kits would at least ensure some quality
time was spent by parish families.
"It's already something if the family unit can get together for a moment
to allow the father to read the prayer and make the sign of the cross
with the water, which was pre-blessed the Sunday after Easter," Fr
Priotto told La Stampa newspaper.