A Halloween Thought

On October 21, 2016, Mary Rezac filed an on-line article entitled What to do about Halloween? Catholic moms – and an exorcist – weigh in  on behalf of the Catholic News Agency.  Quoted below is the portion from an exorcist's perspective [1]:

An exorcist’s perspective

Father Vincent Lampert is a Vatican-trained exorcist and a parish priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis who travels the country, speaking about his work as an exorcist and what people can do to protect themselves against the demonic.

He said when deciding what to do about Halloween, it’s important for parents to remember the Christian origins of the holiday and to celebrate accordingly, rather than in a way that glorifies evil.

“Ultimately I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the kids putting on a costume, dressing up as a cowboy or Cinderella, and going through the neighborhood and asking for candy; that’s all good clean fun,” Fr. Lampert said.

Even a sheet with some holes cut in it as a ghost is fine, Fr. Lampert said.

The danger lies in costumes that deliberately glorify evil and instill fear in people, or when people pretend to have special powers or dabble in magic and witchcraft, even if they think it’s just for entertainment.  

“In the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 18, it talks about not trying to consult the spirits of the dead, not consulting those who dabble in magic and witchcraft and the like,” he said, “because it’s a violation of a church commandment that people are putting other things ahead of their relationship with God.”

“And that would be the danger of Halloween that somehow God is lost in all of this, the religious connotation is lost and then people end up glorifying evil.”

It’s also important to remember that the devil and evil spirits do not actually have any additional authority on Halloween, Fr. Lampert said, and that it only seems that way.

“It’s because of what people are doing, not because of what the devil is doing. Perhaps by the way they’re celebrating that day, they’re actually inviting more evil into our lives,” he said.

One of the best things parents can do is to use Halloween as a teachable moment, Fr. Lampert said.

“A lot of children are out celebrating Halloween, perhaps evil is being glorified, but we’re not really sitting around and talking about why certain practices are not conducive with our Catholic faith and our Catholic identity. I think using it as a teachable moment would be a great thing to do.”

Fr. Lampert mentioned that it is important to remember the "Christian origins" of Halloween.  This blogger wondered what that might be and found an article written by Susan Hines-Brigger for the franciscan media entitled Halloween and Its Christian Roots.  Below is an excerpt [2]:

The true origins of Halloween lie with the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated the festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead. During this festival, Celts believed the souls of the dead, including ghosts, goblins and witches, returned to mingle with the living. In order to scare away the evil spirits, people would wear masks and light bonfires.

When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added their own touches to the Samhain festival, such as making centerpieces out of apples and nuts for Pomona, the Roman goddess of the orchards. The Romans also bobbed for apples and drank cider, traditions which may sound familiar to you. But where does the Christian aspect of the holiday come into play? In 835, Pope Gregory IV moved the celebration for all the martyrs (later all saints) from May 13 to November 1. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Eve. Eventually the name was shortened to the current Halloween. On November 2, the Church celebrates All Souls Day.

The purpose of these feasts is to remember those who have died, whether they are officially recognized by the Church as saints or not.

This blogger used to think that the "feast" Halloween was the opposite of the "feast" of All Saints Day, the former being a celebration of evilness in darkness and the latter a celebration of holiness in daylight, and that on Halloween night, he could act out his naughtiness in thought and in deed without God knowing about it.  That was in a sense extremely liberating.  It was like having his parents away from home so he can do anything that he is not supposed to do: being true to himself, the sinner who relishes in everything that is bad and forbidden.

He has since grown out of it and no longer finds Halloween fun, nor does he still think that All Saints Day is antipodal to Halloween night since many individuals whose saintliness is questionable have nonetheless been canonized, and therefore both Halloween and All Saints Day in his mind have merged together (maybe All Souls Day too), forming a single occasion for remembering or mimicking souls that are both holy and unholy, agreeing in part with Susan Hines-Brigger that "[t]he purpose of these feasts is to remember those who have died, whether they are officially recognized by the Church as saints or not." [3]

Since Halloween is an evening of imagination, masks and costumes, perhaps someone ought to design a few outfits that show what some saints that are in Hell, if any, could look like, as compared to some of the more popular devil outfits that are already out-of-stock for this year. [4]


[1] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/what-to-do-about-halloween-catholic-moms-and-an-exorcist-weigh-in-71576/
[2] https://www.franciscanmedia.org/halloween-and-its-christian-roots/
[3] Ibid.
[4] A link to the retail website is not provided but one can do a Google search under "devil outfit for halloween 2016" and see what pops up.