Q. 1. Who can bless in the Catholic Church? For example, can a father bless his children?

A. 1. Officially, only a priest or a deacon has the authority to administer a formal blessing of an object or a person with the usage of holy water.

Unofficially, informal blessings are permitted. An example is when you enter the Church and you bless yourself with holy water. Also, in some homes, there is a water font at the entrance of the bedroom. The person blesses himself/herself when entering the bedroom.

Another form of blessing is when you ask God to bless someone. For example, you write a letter to a person, ending your letter by stating, "May God bless you." Another example is when someone sneezes and a person responds by saying "God bless you."