Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?

Every fall Catholics who are serious about their faith have the same questions.

Should I allow my child to celebrate Halloween?

What about Halloween parties at school?

Should I give out candy on Halloween?

The Halloween "holiday" dilemma seems to get worse with every passing year.

Halloween has become a big business secular holiday that comes close to rivaling Christmas for the level of decoration and preparation.

Needless to say, this is an alarming trend for Catholics, particularly those who are parents and grandparents. It is an event that has become even more unwholesome and actually evil in aspect. The notion of sending innocent and impressionable children out into a night dressed as demons and witches to beg for candy at the homes of strangers is hair-raising to even the most jaded of Catholics.

Perhaps some readers will think that we are a little over the top on this one. And perhaps not. When our son, now a seminarian, was a small child, we participated in Halloween decorating. I'm sorry now that we did, but it was a learning process. One year I fashioned a somewhat cheerful witch figure and attached it to a tree. Our little son was so upset that he wouldn't go to sleep until we took it down, placed it in a garbage can and put heavy cinder blocks on top of it. As "cheerful" as it was, this innocent child recognized it for what it was. Evil.

As he grew older and reached adolescence, he had decisions to make. Some of them revolved around celebrating Halloween with his peers. I wanted him to begin to learn to make his own moral judgments. I told him, quite simply, everything in this world either brings you closer to God and your salvation, or a step away from Him and onto the path that leads to temptation and destruction. Use this as your scale and judge your activities wisely. He did. Not always as I might have wished him to choose, but the scale on which to weigh his choices was presented to him and since then he has used it, even if in retrospect.

Again, this might seem extreme to many of our readers, but as our Catholic life has progressed and our spirituality deepened, we've come to see some things much more clearly than we did years ago.

We do believe that participation in any activity related to the occult or anything even vaguely related to the devil opens the door a tiny crack to a flood of wrong thinking and wrong actions. That includes the activities that our modern society have come to include in this end-of-October holiday.

For little ones, Halloween is a training ground for more dangerous activities as they grow older. Dressing up like a demon, a vampire, or Harry Potter glorifies the dark one. Even cute little ghost stories begin to instill the belief in the occult -- and the seduction away from the Catholic faith begins.

In short, it doesn't bring you closer to God.

As your children reach adolescence and their teen-aged years, think about the activities they engage in at Halloween gatherings, parties and outings.

If they go out into the streets, there will, no doubt, be mischief. No, it's not innocent. The "fun" activities of egging, flour-sock attacks, shaving cream and worse can cause damage to property and worse yet, injury to others. In truth, these are sins that are not likely to be confessed ... all to the damage of their souls.

At parties, there might be ouija boards, tarot cards, or séances. All in "fun" -- and all opening the door for the dark one to enter.

Teen-agers might gather to watch bloody horror movies, many featuring the "undead" in horrifying detail. Again, I pose the question - does it bring you closer to God or another step away from Him?

Do any of these activities encourage the practice of virtue? Or do they lead to temptation?
There are solutions for the Catholic family, whether or not you have children in your home, or if you are an adult who will have to make the decision as to whether you will answer your door when little children, carrying axes and dripping blood, come looking for candy.

We invite you to explore some of the alternatives we've put together and see what works for you.

As this blog progresses we will include links to help you learn more about how you can turn Halloween into an opportunity to "quietly" but effectively evangelize your Catholic faith and keep your sanity.



And just in case you're still reading and taking us seriously ... it never hurts to have a Saint Benedict* medal over your door ... some holy water on hand and a sprinkling of Blessed Salt over your doorstep.

In the Name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit. Amen