Church's Baptismal Font Removed Due to Public Health Concerns

After illness reported, state officials tell church to get rid of baptismal font and disinfect the area:

Champaign (Illinois) News-Gazette

"A baptismal font...has been removed from a Champaign church at the suggestion of public health officials...the [font] water can become aerosolized and people breathe it in"

"the Illinois Department of Public Health visited the church Wednesday to do a 'complete inspection of our facility'"

 

This church in North Dakota took an extra precaution after a man dipped his bare rear-end into their holy water font:

thesmokinggun.com/file/church-tweaker?page=1

Police report:

"the Priest at Spirit of Life stated while he was conducting Mass, Zachary came into the church and began to disrobe. He then dipped his rear-end into the Holy Water fountain"

The priest "stated that the water would have to be drained from the Holy Water fountain and that the fountain would have to be cleaned and sanitized. Fresh purified water would then have to be pumped through a UV light cleaner before the fountain was filled up....the approximate cost of this with labor and materials would be approximately $500."

 

Study Finds Most 'Holy Water' Is Contaminated with Fecal Matter

"Austrian researchers have discovered that church fonts contain very high levels of bacteria and a majority of water samples from holy sources contain fecal matter. Experts from 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 at various times during the year....They found that 86 percent of water samples from holy sources contain fecal matter"

"the busier the church, the more bacteria it had in its font from people’s hands. In addition to E. coli bacteria and enterococci, the holy springs contained Campylobacter, which can cause inflammatory diarrhea"