A Detroit based priest has gathered attention from around the world after he was reportedly seen squirting holy blessings at churchgoers.
The event is said to have taken place at a socially distanced service, conducted for the Holy Week Easter Food Basket Congregational Ceremony.
The viral priest, Father Tim Pelc, was observed adopting a rather creative take on blessing methods over his congregation. Many onlookers described the incident as a distinctly unique ‘drive-thru style’ method of blessings, where Father Pelc held a water gun and began squirting baskets at a safe and measurable distance.
The act comes as a part of the classic St. Ambrose Parish, keeping in line with Easter traditions.
Pictures of the incident were taken by the St. Ambrose Parish and uploaded onto their leading Facebook group. This brought about countless smiles across many people’s faces last month.
Weeks later, Father Pelc and his viral water gun became the center of social media attention, leading to the uprising of endless timely memes across the board.
The pictures have even managed to spark Photoshop related threads on platforms like Reddit. Here, Father Pelc’s image is edited into several films like post-apocalyptic comedies that range from The Exorcist to Zombieland, not to mention video games such as Doom.
Another recently amusing edit by Photoshop displays Father Pelc being driven into violent themes relating to Pulp Fiction. His water gun is brandished alongside the likes of John Travolta as well as Samuel L. Jackson.
Although Father Pelc is known to steer clear from all forms of social media, he released a statement to Buzzfeed News regarding his sudden rise to viral fame.
In the statement, the Detroit priest defended his actions, stating the idea of squirting blessings was intended for the Parish Kids. He further expressed that all actions were done keeping social distancing protocols in mind.
Despite all the attention, Father Pelc is content with his so-called innovative role as the ‘masked avenger.’ He has expressed delight regarding how his service managed to bring about optimism in the present struggling situation.