Is taking Holy Water from the Church home with you considered stealing?

If I were to go to Church, get a little bottle container, and fill it up with Holy Water, would I be stealing?

I know that Holy Water is sold, but what if I bottle it from the Church?

Something tells me this is stealing, but I’m not 100% sure.

Your thoughts? :slight_smile:

why would it be stealing? our church has a container in the lobby area (narthex, some places call it) that’s specifically for people to use to take water… it looks like one of those drink dispensers, you know with the little flip spigot? I have no idea if all churches have one, but I would guess yes, and the reason you haven’t noticed it is because it’s off in a corner and there’s not a huge line for it… though maybe there should be!

technically, any place you see selling holy water isn’t actually selling the blessed water - they’re selling the container and the unblessed water. sale of a blessed item removes the blessing, and selling an item for the blessing or increasing the price because it’s been blessed is simony and is forbidden. for example, I found a site selling water from lourdes, and at the top of the page it says that your order can be blessed free of charge before shipping.

(I wouldn’t drink it, though… you don’t know how long it’s been sitting there or if the container is clean, or even intended for potable water.)

I thought it was taboo to drink holy water anyways… you know, assuming your not dying of thirst or something.

Not at all, drinking it is a common practice in the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox. On a related note while it’s strictly speaking not Holy Water I’ve just come back from Turkey where I visited the Church in Ephesus which is located where the theotokos’ home was reputed to be. There is a spring at this area and visitors are free to fill bottles with water if they wish and many Catholic and Orthodox visitors were doing so and I did also.

We’ve always been free to take as much Holy Water as we needed. As has been mentioned up-thread, it’s not allowed to be sold.

This is a Church in Dublin:-'s_church_Clarendon_Street_Dublin_2006_Kaihsu_Tai.jpg/398px-Holy_water_St_Teresa's_church_Clarendon_Street_Dublin_2006_Kaihsu_Tai.jpg

I would ask before just taking,

Just ask where they keep the holy water dispenser. No need to steal it – they give it away!

Every church in my area has a dispenser at the front of the church for people to take Holy Water from. Like above, if not sure, ask in the church.

And THAT, my friends, is all you need to know about THAT.

No, it is okay to drink it as a blessing. Many Asians in our area do so, including one of our priests who drank some whenever he blessed a new supply.

However, as noted, don’t drink it from the fonts or from the dispenser. Bring a fresh bottle of water and have the priest bless it.

No, it is not stealing. I probably wouldn’t advise taking it from the font that everyone sticks their hands in, though. :stuck_out_tongue:

Growing up, my parish had a little metal container where you could fill up your bottles and bring home. We also had fonts in our bedrooms.

I don’t know if my current parish has place to take water from, but the huge baptism font is always full, I’m sure some people scoop from there.

No. I am not sure why you think it would be stealing or why, if you were concerned about it being stealing, you would not simply ask.

No. Holy water cannot be sold. You are mistaken.

What makes you think it is stealing?

It’s not stealing. I refill my holy water bottles from a parish church, which has a vat of holy water at the left side.

I think our church puts a little bit of bleach for sanitary purposes

If you’re scooping holy water out of the small font by the church entrance, please don’t do that any more. Think of the germs which might be on your container, and think of the germs in the font and how they will multiply in your container.

It is rare in my area to see an urn of holy water in the church - it’s usually kept in the sacristy. Simply ask the priest, deacon, usher, or one of the liturgical ministers if he/she would fill up your container for you.

Well I hope that’s not true. No one wants to dip their fingers in a bleach solution. No parent wants their 3-year-old to put bleach solution in their mouth, which will happen if said toddler sucks his finger after signing himself with the holy water.
If bleach is used to sanitize the small fonts, hopefully they are rinsed very well before fresh holy water is poured into them.

The small fonts are supposed to be drained out and cleaned regularly.

I wondered myself if it okay to take holy water home, so I asked the parish priest. He said it is okay, so I have done this from then on.

I have gotten one of those bottles for holy water at a Catholic store and went by my parish and they had a canister thing that you press a button and it is full of holy water. I use it to bless myself with multiple times a day.

God bless!

Actually it is true, read the post, they DO NOT replace water with bleach solution, rather they sanitize the water with a few drops of bleach. It is a valid and common practice in countries where the water supply is of unknown quality and boiling might not be feasible. You can find the recommendations on how to do so with google.
