Holy Water unit to battle coronavirus
Dispensing tower is put at church entrances
Two Lanarkshire churches have installed hands-free Holy Water dispensers in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Parishioners at St Francis Xavier Carfin, at Carfin Grotto, and The Sacred Heart Church in Bellshill, are now able to bless themselves thanks to a generous parishioner’s ingenious idea.
Carfin man Paul Lawlor missed the use of Holy Water fonts, which had been banned from churches due to the risks, but after discussing an idea with his son, Chris Lawlor, of Lawlor Technologies, they came up with a solution.
Paul began building two prototypes in a shed and kindly donated one to St Francis Xavier Carfin and his former parish, The Sacred Heart in Bellshill.
The grotto’s Sancta Familia Media posted a video of the dispenser which has since gone viral and led to a lot of requests for more with a further six sold. The video shows the dispenser situated as you go into the church.
John Patrick Mallon of Sancta Familia Media said: “One of the things we’ve been missing most going into church is almost a natural reaction to bless yourself with Holy
Water, but of course given the fonts were a source of possible infection with multiple people dipping their hands in it during this time of the pandemic, one of our parishioners here in Carfin, Paul Lawlor, has come up with an idea which allows us to still have that blessing but without having contact.
“It’s really smart and you can put your hand underneath and you are able to bless yourself.
“Wonderful, so thanks to Paul Lawlor,”