Sinners beware

“I can’t bless the water for someone else,” said Rabbi Avrohom Brod of the Chabad of Stockton.

Linden, CA — Sinners beware: Taking a swig of the newly bottled Holy Drinking Water could cause burning, sweating, skin irritations, rashes, watery eyes and a pale skin color.

For those a little less evil, drinking the water could remind them to be a better person, said Brian Germann, president of Linden-based Wayne Enterprises Inc., a company that just placed the water on one store’s shelves last week.

Holy Drinking Water is sold only at Rinaldi’s Market in Linden. But a 99-cent, 16.9-ounce bottle soon will be available at other grocery stores and mini marts, as well as online, Germann said.

The “warning to sinners” label about adverse physical conditions printed on the bottle is part disclaimer, part ploy.

“We kind of are actually being a little bit serious,” he said, “but we’re using a marketing strategy for the younger generations.”

Especially for those who have watched a lot of scary movies, he added.

The water is purified and blessed, Germann said. He has two clergyman from two different religions blessing it and hopes to attract the help of clergymen, rabbis or holy people from each religion.

Germann won’t release the names of those who bless the water — he said he wants to protect them from “unnecessary peer pressure” fromclergy who may not support the idea — and said he understands “this has the potential to be a controversial product.”

So far, Germann said the reaction from the religious community has been positive. However, those interviewed were skeptical.

Virginia Meagher, liturgy coordinator at the Catholic Diocese of Stockton, said bottled holy water isn’t sacrilegious, but “it’s probably not something we would encourage.”

Water, she said, can be blessed by a priest or deacon at any time, but it’s then to be used to bless a new house or a sick person or in a religious ritual.

Selling holy water “seems to be against the reason we bless water,” Meagher said.

According to the Judaism, food and water can be blessed before consumption by any member of the faith, but “I can’t bless the water for someone else,” said Rabbi Avrohom Brod of the Chabad of Stockton.

And water isn’t blessed during the Jewish service, he said.

Still, Holy Drinking Water is selling well at Rinaldi’s Market, said Manager Victor Fong.

“Even the phone calls are coming in — people are asking,” he said.

After only about a week on the shelves, 10 of the 15 cases are gone, Fong said.

The water sits unassumingly at the front of the store, next to the Sara Lee bagels and Italbrand spaghetti. No heavenly white lights beam down on it.

Customer Linda Jenkins, buying something from the nearby deli, said she wouldn’t replace holy water from a church with Holy Drinking Water.

As a Catholic, she wasn’t offended by it but said holy water couldn’t be marketed.

“I mean, as a prank,” she said, “it’s funny.”

“Pretty soon,” she joked, “they’ll have holy bread.”