Carmelite of Mary Father Joseph Akkara, administrator of Mary Queen of Peace Church, is accustomed to visiting his parishioners’ homes.
It’s an Easter custom in India, Father Akkara, a native of Kerala, India, said in a recent interview.
‘During the Easter time, the parish priest goes to the different homes with the new water, which we have blessed during the Easter time.’
Carmelite of Mary Father Joseph Akkara
“During the Easter time, the parish priest goes to the different homes with the new water, which we have blessed during the Easter time,” he said.
He grew up with the tradition, he said. As a child, every year, during the Easter season, his parish priest would visit his home and give a blessing.
During his service as a parish priest in India, the parishioners expected it every year, he noted.
So when Father Akkara moved from India to Louisville in December of 2024, he continued the tradition, he said. This Easter, his first Easter in the United States, he put a sign-up list in the back of the sanctuary of Mary Queen of Peace Church, asking his parishioners to pick a time for him to visit their homes, he said.
Using the “Book of Blessings,” approved for use in U.S. dioceses, Father Akkara blesses each room of a parishioner’s home, speaking aloud a prayer of blessing and sprinkling the room with holy water.
Since Easter, he has visited and blessed the homes of eight of his parishioners.
His parishioners at Mary Queen of Peace Church, located at 4005 Dixie Highway, have been grateful, he said.
At his first home blessing in the U.S., a couple told him, “We feel a kind of negative spirit here, that’s the reason we called you,” he said.
A few days after the blessing, the couple told him, “It has been different, Father. We feel that we are fresh now,” he said.
Home blessings are a way for Catholics to “renew their faith” and “renew their lives,” he said. “Each year, your house will get renewed in your Christian faith and in your new life,” he added.
