A Catholic priest in the US says it has been fun to watch his drive-by blessings get international attention.

As part of a traditional Easter gathering, he used water pistols to bless those in attendance.

Fr Tim Pelc from Detroit, Michigan says he hopes children can have some good memories from a challenging time.

He told Sean Moncrieff the story has grown legs in the last few weeks.

"This was a pre-Easter blessing, and there's a custom here in the States of bringing your Easter food for a blessing on Holy Saturday.

"Since we were under quarantine, that would not allow people into the buildings.

Image: Facebook/St. Ambrose Parish

"So I was looking for some way to involve kids and their families, and I talked to a couple of the doctors in the parish - and we came up with the idea of having the children prepare their Easter baskets and drive-by with them.

"And the rest, as they say, is sort of history.

"That's over seven weeks ago, and the story is still getting traction."

Image: Facebook/St. Ambrose Parish

He wore a mask and gloves when performing the water pistol blessings.

"It was actually a pretty fun event, we had about 70 cars worth of parishioners and the children sure enjoyed it.

"And hopefully it left them with a better memory of an Easter that otherwise was pretty dismal".

Fr Pelc said he had to use several different pistols to keep up with demand.

"I had several pistols in case it ran out - I didn't actually know, not being an expert in the genre.

"I had two or three, and I did learn that certain brands work better than others".

Image: Facebook/St. Ambrose Parish

But he said his aim with the pistols was "surprisingly easy".

Asked if his superiors approved, he said: "There's a saying in the military: Don't ask and don't tell - or another one was it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

"But this was not a sacrament of the church, it had nothing to do with faith or morals - we're talking chocolate bunnies and sausages here".

"And as a result I think people were looking for a really good news, kind of light-hearted story.

"It took off initially Easter week and I thought that was going to be the end of it.

Image: Facebook/St. Ambrose Parish

"But then it bounced back about four or five weeks later when the photoshop community got a hold of the photos and started photoshopping it and making it into different memes.

"So it became a contest where you could put my image in different situations or different movies, battling evil and things like that.

"That just took off on its own and that's been kind of fun to watch".

Main image: Image: Facebook/St. Ambrose Parish