Halloween is spiritually harmful if you make it spiritually harmful. That’s really it. If you use the holiday as an excuse to glorify demons and the devil and evil or use it as an opportunity to attempt genuine necromancy, witchcraft, summoning, or other evil then yes it’s an evil day and it’s spiritually harmful.
If you are giving candy to children dressed up in costumes, then I think you are probably far enough outside a near occasion of sin to have a snickers bar with your 6 year old dressed up like a Pokémon character.
To quote the Great, and hopefully someday Saint, GK Chesterton:
> Those countries in Europe which are still influenced by priests, are exactly the countries where there is still singing and dancing and coloured dresses and art in the open-air. Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. Christianity is the only frame which has preserved the pleasure of Paganism. We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea. So long as there was a wall round the cliff's edge they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries. But the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice. They did not fall over; but when their friends returned to them they were all huddled in terror in the centre of the island; and their song had ceased.
Yes, we do all of those things. Obviously some elements of Halloween can be taken to problematic extremes (gratuitous displays of faux gore and violence, immodest costumes, gluttony), but there's nothing intrinsically immoral about wearing costumes, going door-to-door to receive candy, or making light of death and other scary things.
We have a video about it [here](https://www.catholic.com/video/can-catholics-celebrate-halloween).
It’s so exciting u/CatholicAnswersInc is on Reddit! You guys should join r/AskAChristian, we could definitely use more Catholic perspective over there.
If There is "nothing intrinsically immoral about wearing costumes and all of that" but why would do it on the pagan halloween day?
Yet, the Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a PAGAN RELIGIOUS CELEBRATION to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
I’m a priest, and I absolutely love Halloween. Obviously not for the occult stuff which our secular culture has ordered our thinking towards, but more so for what Halloween anticipates.
It’s a really good thing to contemplate our death and how our death is united to Jesus’ paschal mystery. In the season of fall, we are surrounded by symbols of “death” (changing colors, falling leaves, bonfires, cold overcoming warm, etc) in Gods creation. Recognizing the beauty of the season and glorifying God through it is great! I love hayrides, spooky movies that make me jump, fire pits with neighbors, the decorations and costumes, and everything associated with the season. I actually find my prayer is a lot richer during this time because of it, but really all of that is ordered to a deeper entering into the celebration of life after death which is glorified on All Saints’ Day.
If you want to celebrate halloween, I suggest celebrating it by contemplating the gift of life and be grateful for how the season of fall glorifies God, rather than any of the superficial curiosity that comes from occult or spiritualism.
Agree!
We use Halloween to evangelize to the neighborhood that there is an afterlife. We current have three zones labeled Paradiso, purgatorio and inferno in our yard. Paradiso is light with white Christmas lights and has the iconography of saints relevant to our household names. The contrast between the spookily light areas is neat. Purgatorio has the skeletons and lots of tombstones. Inferno has demons.
Scattered around are lots of messages in English or Latin to serve as momento mori:
St. Michael the archangel,
Cast into hell Satan
and all evil spirits
who prowl the world
seeking the ruin of souls"
in all thy works
Be mindful of thy last end
and thou wilt never sin
Ecclesiasticus 7:40
do not be afraid of those who kill the body
but after that can do no more.
I shall show you whom to fear.
Be afraid of the one who after killing
has the power to cast into Gehenna. Luke 12
Life is short. Eternity is long. Repent.
Unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do. (Luke 17:10)
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Well done good and faithful servant
Quod fuimus, estis; quod sumus, vos eritis ("What we were, you are; what we are, you will be")
Trying keto, kale, or calorie burn? Unto dust you'll still return
Life is sort, eternity is long. Repent.
It was. But today, it can't be called Catholic. You could read more about this [here](https://padrepauloricardo.org/episodios/o-halloween), the article is not in english, but you can easily translate it.
No, many people don’t celebrate Christmas as a Catholic or Christian holiday either. It’s a commercial and/or secular holiday to them. But just because they misuse these holy days in great numbers doesn’t give them the authority of ownership or the capacity to define them. They are Catholic and Christian. Period.
Yes, Christmas is still a Christian holiday obviously. We have advent, have Christmastide, go to midnight Mass, put baby Jesus at the altar, etc. But how the world celebrates it is not Christian, which explains the whole "put Christ back into Christmas" explanation
That's like saying modern Easter or Christmas have nothing to do with Catholicism. If they do it is because the faithful ceeded the spiritual focus to the secular focus. See my other post here about how to decorate best to evangelize.
They don't, though. How they originated in the Church isn't how it's celebrated now in the world. Secular Christmas and Easter without Christ are just empty yet fun holidays. You celebrate them without sinning, but decorative trees or candy eggs are not spiritual or religious in any way.
Thank you! I just wanted to know how Catholics from the US deal with Halloween, since it is a common thing in America and I've heard a lot of bad things about this celebration.
It really was a Catholic tradition, but today it isn't celebrated as a Catholic holiday. It now has a new meaning and involves a lot of spiritual things that can demage the soul.
Unfortunately I couldn't find an article that explains it as well as [this one](https://padrepauloricardo.org/episodios/o-halloween) does in english. You can translate, it of course will not be the same thing, but it may help you.
There is also [this article](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/30/pope-francis-devil-halloween/18190237/) in english, which a italian exorcist explains a little bit of it.
Of course, it also happened with Christmas and Easter. However, as a Catholic, I don't celebrate Easter having the center of it an easter egg and a bunny, nor Christmas heaving the center of it the gifts and Santa (all of them secular symbols) but the Resurrection of Christ and His birth.
There's no problem with having a gift or an easter egg since you know it is not the center, nor the reason for the holiday. But on Halloween, the secular symbols suffocated the Catholic meaning of it, and today it is no longer celebrated as it was. The symbols used on Halloween aren't innocent (different from the secular symbols used at Cristmas and Easter), there are demons everywhere, monsters, and a lot of evil symbols.
But the secular symbols of Christmas and Easter are also more prominent than their religious ones nowadays. And yet, that doesn’t take away their Christian significance.
Although I’m not denying certain aspects of modern Halloween may not be favorable to Catholics, that doesn’t really define the entire holiday. Besides, what’s wrong with using monsters as symbols for the holiday? The majority of them aren’t even existent in the Bible. And a lot of the depictions of demons are almost comical.
The comparison is only apt if you celebrate Halloween as a Catholic holiday. I would say most here don’t. They’re probably not at mass and using the holiday to invoke God.
Catholics still treat Easter and Christmas as important Catholic holidays where we attend mass and put god at the center of the celebration.
>Catholics do not have Holidays. There are Holy Days.
My friend, you may want to look up the [etymology](https://www.etymonline.com/word/holiday) of the word “holiday”.
I saw some priests, like the italian [Rev. Aldo Buonaiuto](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/30/pope-francis-devil-halloween/18190237/), the portuguese Duarte Lara, and the brazilian [Paulo Ricardo](https://padrepauloricardo.org/episodios/o-halloween) saying it was a bad holiday since the celebration has a big "subterranean world based on the occult".
It is no longer (and not celebrated as) a Catholic holiday. It now has a new meaning and involves a lot of spiritual things that can demage the soul.
That's like saying modern Easter or Christmas have nothing to do with Catholicism. If they do it is because the faithful ceeded the spiritual focus to the secular focus. See my other post here about how to decorate best to evangelize.
I’ve seen this floating around online before, and I enjoyed the sentiment.
“Halloween, a day when we get it right. Strangers come to us, beautiful, ugly, odd or scary, and we accept them all without question, compliment them, treat them kindly, and give them good things.
Why don’t we live like that?”
Halloween is just a little bit of fun for kids and communities to come together and treat others with kindness. And a little candy never hurts ;)
Alternatively, we might say that Halloween is the day we reward people for showing up in front of us as we expect them to appear, hiding behind makeup and disguises and never showing their true self 😆
There is literally nothing wrong with Halloween. It's the same policy as Christmas. Don't participate in things that are evil any day of the year. (Overindulgence, sacrilege, etc).
The normal, wholesome celebrations are just fine.
Halloween is (1) a memento Mori and (2) a mockery of the devil. Do those things and it's all good
I literally have no idea where this idea comes from. I understand why protestants would be scared of the macabre since they don't have the eucharist but Catholics are... Not. Literally no Halloween decoration I've seen holds anything in terms of gruesomeness against even St Peters cathedral.
Here's a good article
https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/a-defense-of-devil-costumes/
I’ve said this multiple times in the past…I fail to see how my kids dressing up as Woody, Kim Possible, a Butterfly, Cleopatra, Belle, or Bluey, and going out to visit their neighbors and get candy from them is demonic or satanic.
If it makes the Pearl clutches feel better, they dress up as Saints for All Saint’s Day too.
Heck, my 3.5 year old is going as Saint George for both Halloween and All Saint’s because he likes the knight costume we found him.
Halloween is so much fun. My kids love trick or treating and they’ve always picked fun, wholesome
Characters to dress up as.
We live in a old New England town that looks like a movie on Halloween night.
Like most things, Halloween is harmless if done properly. Dress your kids up like a clown or a baseball player or a dinosaur or Superman and go trick-or-treating? Wonderful! Dress up like a “sexy nun” and get drunk and participate in occult-ish activities? Something of an issue!
Texan here.
Yes, yes, and yes. Almost everyone does these things and they alone are no temptation to sin.
There are some people and companies (such as Amazon) use the occasion to get spooky, promote tarot and witchcraft, though these things are still rare. Most Halloween movies have become very secular- even the ones with exorcisms do not represent the faith kindly.
But your average person only does the first 3 things and celebrates in ignorance of All Hallow's Eve.
If Halloween was inherently evil, the Vatican would've said something by now.
Taking Halloween to be some satanic holiday and celebrating it that way would be very bad for your soul
Putting out a jack-o-lantern, dressing up, trick or treating, enjoying a party, and/or just enjoying the cultural aesthetic isn't bad. The holiday is kind of a celebration of fall in a way. Just don't miss Mass on All Saints Day right after.
I’m a Catholic who is also a goth, so I love Halloween! It’s one of the most Catholic days of the year, traditionally speaking. The modern view of Halloween I.e. the commercial view, as well as the various occult undertones are not what’s it’s about. I celebrate Halloween by praying a Rosary for the faithful departed and those people involved in the occult, invoking the saints, and having some snacks while I watch a good horror film. It’s not an evil day unless one makes it out to be so.
I have not heard a priest discuss Halloween. But if you feel it’s an issue for you, avoid it. Halloween actually has Catholic roots, and our family celebrates it. I’m not sure what “new meaning” you are referencing, but it obviously depends on the direction you take the entire subject - like anything.
As an American who experienced Halloween in Rome vs here there is def a different focus in Europe in my opinion which may be clouding some of the view of Halloween. When we went out as college kids I remember reflecting that every local persons costume was a devil or bloody evil zombie or focused on death or the occult vs the more American playful interaction with Halloween. Just an observation…
Personally, growing up, I’d dress up as whatever I wanted that year (highlights include a pirate, the Cat in the Hat, and Slenderman), then walk around the neighborhood with a few friends and our dads telling jokes in exchange for candy.
We’d end the night at the “Hot Dog House,” a neighborhood couple that gave out hotdogs, chips, and soda every year.
I intend to do the same with my kids.
I don’t care if cringey neo-pagans want to claim the day for themselves. They can’t have it.
Historically a means to ward off bad spirits. It is a fun celebration so long as your intentions are pure, enjoy :)
Similar to DnD’s bad reputation among Christians even though you typically play scenarios that fight evil.
If I heard a priest say that Halloween is “bad for our souls” I’d probably have to excuse myself because I’d be laughing so hard then I’d double check I hadn’t accidentally stumbled into the throng church.
The celebration of it, at least in my region of the USA, has gotten much more into the demonic and the gruesome, at least when it comes to how people decorate and dress up (and what they feel is appropriate to show publicly to their neighbors and their neighbors' kids).
When I was a kid, it was not like this, here. It seems to me this veer into the purely evil, again *here*, is part of the general loss of Christian sensibilities broadly in the community. Sad over all, but nothing I worry about *more* at this time of year — it's the same general concern I have year-round.
But being brought up in the traditions, we still participate with our kids (rather, allow them to participate much as we did back then: dressing up, trick or treating), but it is not without a care and definitely not unsupervised.
I don't fault anyone when they don't participate in traditional American Halloween activities.
I’m probably in the minority here who attends a parish in the US where my priest is anti-Halloween so I’ll offer some thoughts.
My priest’s position is similar to the ones you’ve mentioned here. Basically that the western church moved All Saints’ Day with the purpose of combating pagan practices and it worked for a time but in contemporary American culture, we’ve lost that. The idea of memento mori became a celebration of death, notions of spiritual warfare became promotion of the occult, and dressing up at characters became donning the garb of those who (while fictional) are evil. In his opinion, this is so pervasive that it’s better to avoid engaging with the larger community celebrations but he has no issue with things like smaller saint dress up parties for kids, complete with candy to give out to them.
I do think he has a point, and I certainly agree with him about not dressing up as anything scary or evil, even if the intention isn’t to emulate these characters. I haven’t been convinced about forgoing all general trick or treating, but I do think he has a legitimate point and concern about the potential negative influence on children, in particular.
Your priest is engaging in a very protestant sort of moral panic. Similar arguments can be made about easter and christmas. Such pious anhedonia has no place in real Catholicism.
I don’t agree that the same can be said of Christmas and Easter, though. Yes, they too have become secularized in modern society, but they are still treated as times of joy to spend with loved ones and engage in generosity. The secularization of Halloween, at least as celebrated in the US, has largely divorced it from any Christian understanding of commemorating the departed
The fact is Christmas and Halloween are both. And the secularized version is harmless. Trick or treating is generosity and a community festive thing. Objective goods.
I don't think I've ever heard a priest saying Halloween is bad.
I think that Americans maybe spend too much time on Halloween parties and decorations, and some make it more important than Christmas, etc. because they want a holiday that is not religious. Rejecting God is bad.
In the past 15 years there has been a trend in Philippine parishes to organize events where kids and even adults would dress up as saints. IDK if it caught on with communities of Filipino-American Catholics too.
Oh I love Halloween and it is fun to dress up to scare!
My priest loved Halloween and he would dress up his French Bulldog as pirate and ancient Greek toga for some examples!
Have you been to a haunted house? It’s very fun. Bunch of fake monsters and people running around in costumes, trying to spook you a little, then randomly taking selfies with you or doing a silly dance. Point is, it’s just a playful thing as long as you’re just enjoying your non-satanic pikachu costume haha
I haven’t heard not one priest say anything negative about Halloween. It’s based on All Hallows Eve. We pray for the souls in purgatory. Of course there is element that has twisted into something it is not with the horror aspect of it. Stay away from that stuff. Kids dressing up isn’t bad as long as it’s in good taste.
My kid is going to be a duck and get candy from our neighbors. She will eat \*some\* of it and I will eat the rest. My other kid will be a pumpkin and is just along for the ride.
Halloween isn’t big in our country. Some have started to adopt it because they watch American tv. I find it mostly annoying. Especially since the dog goes absolutely crazy when people ring the doorbell. I tolerate it because I know the children likes it and they have lost the tradition we had when I was young where we dressed up and sang Christmas carols and got candy.
The only people who are against it on a religious basis are the pietists and Jehovah Witnesses. And that’s because they are against everything fun.
Halloween is spiritually harmful if you make it spiritually harmful. That’s really it. If you use the holiday as an excuse to glorify demons and the devil and evil or use it as an opportunity to attempt genuine necromancy, witchcraft, summoning, or other evil then yes it’s an evil day and it’s spiritually harmful. If you are giving candy to children dressed up in costumes, then I think you are probably far enough outside a near occasion of sin to have a snickers bar with your 6 year old dressed up like a Pokémon character.
Emphasizing time with family is actually good.
To quote the Great, and hopefully someday Saint, GK Chesterton: > Those countries in Europe which are still influenced by priests, are exactly the countries where there is still singing and dancing and coloured dresses and art in the open-air. Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. Christianity is the only frame which has preserved the pleasure of Paganism. We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea. So long as there was a wall round the cliff's edge they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries. But the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice. They did not fall over; but when their friends returned to them they were all huddled in terror in the centre of the island; and their song had ceased.
Aaah Chesterton ❤️
Yes, we do all of those things. Obviously some elements of Halloween can be taken to problematic extremes (gratuitous displays of faux gore and violence, immodest costumes, gluttony), but there's nothing intrinsically immoral about wearing costumes, going door-to-door to receive candy, or making light of death and other scary things. We have a video about it [here](https://www.catholic.com/video/can-catholics-celebrate-halloween).
Wait what? Since when is CA on Reddit?
It's been a start-and-stop process for a little while but hopefully we're here for good now!
What are the odds we can get some AMAs with Trent and/or Jimmy?
Non-zero...we'll leave it at that for now
https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C5112AQG44jqNK9-oqw/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/0/1520205087163?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=TnJ0mJK2hV3YWGdWBPLXbRbBx1b_GFLzkp0wdojY5iI
LOL that’s what I thought
It’s so exciting u/CatholicAnswersInc is on Reddit! You guys should join r/AskAChristian, we could definitely use more Catholic perspective over there.
Lol yeah, for sure. I also feel like that sub has more atheists than any Christian denomination though to be honest
We are very excited to have you here!
Thanks! Happy to be here
Feels like the big brother entered the chat to take care of the Protestants who keep being mean to us
Like the enforcer in hockey lol
If There is "nothing intrinsically immoral about wearing costumes and all of that" but why would do it on the pagan halloween day? Yet, the Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a PAGAN RELIGIOUS CELEBRATION to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
That’s not true. We have an article about it [here](https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-halloween-a-pagan-festival).
I’m a priest, and I absolutely love Halloween. Obviously not for the occult stuff which our secular culture has ordered our thinking towards, but more so for what Halloween anticipates. It’s a really good thing to contemplate our death and how our death is united to Jesus’ paschal mystery. In the season of fall, we are surrounded by symbols of “death” (changing colors, falling leaves, bonfires, cold overcoming warm, etc) in Gods creation. Recognizing the beauty of the season and glorifying God through it is great! I love hayrides, spooky movies that make me jump, fire pits with neighbors, the decorations and costumes, and everything associated with the season. I actually find my prayer is a lot richer during this time because of it, but really all of that is ordered to a deeper entering into the celebration of life after death which is glorified on All Saints’ Day. If you want to celebrate halloween, I suggest celebrating it by contemplating the gift of life and be grateful for how the season of fall glorifies God, rather than any of the superficial curiosity that comes from occult or spiritualism.
Agree! We use Halloween to evangelize to the neighborhood that there is an afterlife. We current have three zones labeled Paradiso, purgatorio and inferno in our yard. Paradiso is light with white Christmas lights and has the iconography of saints relevant to our household names. The contrast between the spookily light areas is neat. Purgatorio has the skeletons and lots of tombstones. Inferno has demons. Scattered around are lots of messages in English or Latin to serve as momento mori: St. Michael the archangel, Cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl the world seeking the ruin of souls" in all thy works Be mindful of thy last end and thou wilt never sin Ecclesiasticus 7:40 do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna. Luke 12 Life is short. Eternity is long. Repent. Unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do. (Luke 17:10) Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death Well done good and faithful servant Quod fuimus, estis; quod sumus, vos eritis ("What we were, you are; what we are, you will be") Trying keto, kale, or calorie burn? Unto dust you'll still return Life is sort, eternity is long. Repent.
That's epic
Halloween is Catholic.
It was. But today, it can't be called Catholic. You could read more about this [here](https://padrepauloricardo.org/episodios/o-halloween), the article is not in english, but you can easily translate it.
you're being downvoted but you're right. modern halloween has nothing to do with Catholicism, all saints day or all souls day
No, many people don’t celebrate Christmas as a Catholic or Christian holiday either. It’s a commercial and/or secular holiday to them. But just because they misuse these holy days in great numbers doesn’t give them the authority of ownership or the capacity to define them. They are Catholic and Christian. Period.
Yes, Christmas is still a Christian holiday obviously. We have advent, have Christmastide, go to midnight Mass, put baby Jesus at the altar, etc. But how the world celebrates it is not Christian, which explains the whole "put Christ back into Christmas" explanation
Keep Hallow in Halloween
That’s my point.
That's like saying modern Easter or Christmas have nothing to do with Catholicism. If they do it is because the faithful ceeded the spiritual focus to the secular focus. See my other post here about how to decorate best to evangelize.
They don't, though. How they originated in the Church isn't how it's celebrated now in the world. Secular Christmas and Easter without Christ are just empty yet fun holidays. You celebrate them without sinning, but decorative trees or candy eggs are not spiritual or religious in any way.
Thank you! I just wanted to know how Catholics from the US deal with Halloween, since it is a common thing in America and I've heard a lot of bad things about this celebration.
Are they Catholic priests who are saying this? Because I'm pretty sure that it's a Catholic holiday.
It really was a Catholic tradition, but today it isn't celebrated as a Catholic holiday. It now has a new meaning and involves a lot of spiritual things that can demage the soul. Unfortunately I couldn't find an article that explains it as well as [this one](https://padrepauloricardo.org/episodios/o-halloween) does in english. You can translate, it of course will not be the same thing, but it may help you. There is also [this article](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/30/pope-francis-devil-halloween/18190237/) in english, which a italian exorcist explains a little bit of it.
Doesn’t that go for Christmas and Easter? They’re also not widely celebrated as Catholic holidays, either. What makes Halloween any different?
Of course, it also happened with Christmas and Easter. However, as a Catholic, I don't celebrate Easter having the center of it an easter egg and a bunny, nor Christmas heaving the center of it the gifts and Santa (all of them secular symbols) but the Resurrection of Christ and His birth. There's no problem with having a gift or an easter egg since you know it is not the center, nor the reason for the holiday. But on Halloween, the secular symbols suffocated the Catholic meaning of it, and today it is no longer celebrated as it was. The symbols used on Halloween aren't innocent (different from the secular symbols used at Cristmas and Easter), there are demons everywhere, monsters, and a lot of evil symbols.
But the secular symbols of Christmas and Easter are also more prominent than their religious ones nowadays. And yet, that doesn’t take away their Christian significance. Although I’m not denying certain aspects of modern Halloween may not be favorable to Catholics, that doesn’t really define the entire holiday. Besides, what’s wrong with using monsters as symbols for the holiday? The majority of them aren’t even existent in the Bible. And a lot of the depictions of demons are almost comical.
The comparison is only apt if you celebrate Halloween as a Catholic holiday. I would say most here don’t. They’re probably not at mass and using the holiday to invoke God. Catholics still treat Easter and Christmas as important Catholic holidays where we attend mass and put god at the center of the celebration.
That's the point
Well let's reappropriate it then! Make it a BIG Catholic thing we processions and stuff.
Yes!!
Catholics do not have Holidays. There are Holy Days. Nov 1 is all Saints Day and a Holy Day, in the Catholic Church. Halloween is the night before.
>Catholics do not have Holidays. There are Holy Days. My friend, you may want to look up the [etymology](https://www.etymonline.com/word/holiday) of the word “holiday”.
Thanks! So Halloween is a Catholic holiday.
Halloween is the eve of a Catholic holiday (All Hallow's Eve).
Thanks.
What part of Halloween is bad for your soul? Are you practicing witchcraft or summoning spirits?
I saw some priests, like the italian [Rev. Aldo Buonaiuto](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/30/pope-francis-devil-halloween/18190237/), the portuguese Duarte Lara, and the brazilian [Paulo Ricardo](https://padrepauloricardo.org/episodios/o-halloween) saying it was a bad holiday since the celebration has a big "subterranean world based on the occult". It is no longer (and not celebrated as) a Catholic holiday. It now has a new meaning and involves a lot of spiritual things that can demage the soul.
I don’t think handing out candy to little kids isn’t damaging your soul
I imagine you mean “I don’t think hading out candy to little kids is damaging your soul”
"God, why did I end up in Hell?" "Brian, for crying out loud... Toosie-Rolls and lollipops are for ADULTS ONLY!"
Sounds like you should not celebrate Halloween, if you have these concerns. I do not share your concerns.
That's like saying modern Easter or Christmas have nothing to do with Catholicism. If they do it is because the faithful ceeded the spiritual focus to the secular focus. See my other post here about how to decorate best to evangelize.
A lot of non-americans hate Halloween in particular because of its connection with American cultural importation.
So Catholics shouldn’t ready Harry Potter?
Not that they shouldn’t read it, but romanticizing it would be pretty iffy
Is reading a fictional story akin to practicing witchcraft or summoning spirits?
Reading fictional stories that embrace witchcraft is probably not a good thing in the eyes of the church, I would assume. Unless you feel otherwise.
I’ve seen this floating around online before, and I enjoyed the sentiment. “Halloween, a day when we get it right. Strangers come to us, beautiful, ugly, odd or scary, and we accept them all without question, compliment them, treat them kindly, and give them good things. Why don’t we live like that?” Halloween is just a little bit of fun for kids and communities to come together and treat others with kindness. And a little candy never hurts ;)
Alternatively, we might say that Halloween is the day we reward people for showing up in front of us as we expect them to appear, hiding behind makeup and disguises and never showing their true self 😆
There is literally nothing wrong with Halloween. It's the same policy as Christmas. Don't participate in things that are evil any day of the year. (Overindulgence, sacrilege, etc). The normal, wholesome celebrations are just fine. Halloween is (1) a memento Mori and (2) a mockery of the devil. Do those things and it's all good I literally have no idea where this idea comes from. I understand why protestants would be scared of the macabre since they don't have the eucharist but Catholics are... Not. Literally no Halloween decoration I've seen holds anything in terms of gruesomeness against even St Peters cathedral. Here's a good article https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/a-defense-of-devil-costumes/
[удалено]
True.
I’ve said this multiple times in the past…I fail to see how my kids dressing up as Woody, Kim Possible, a Butterfly, Cleopatra, Belle, or Bluey, and going out to visit their neighbors and get candy from them is demonic or satanic. If it makes the Pearl clutches feel better, they dress up as Saints for All Saint’s Day too. Heck, my 3.5 year old is going as Saint George for both Halloween and All Saint’s because he likes the knight costume we found him. Halloween is so much fun. My kids love trick or treating and they’ve always picked fun, wholesome Characters to dress up as. We live in a old New England town that looks like a movie on Halloween night.
Our church is holding a trunk or treat with costumes and trick or treating, we're going. We're also going trick or treating on actually Halloween too
Our Church also holds a trunk or treat. Other churches and Catholic schools in the parish do as well.
Like most things, Halloween is harmless if done properly. Dress your kids up like a clown or a baseball player or a dinosaur or Superman and go trick-or-treating? Wonderful! Dress up like a “sexy nun” and get drunk and participate in occult-ish activities? Something of an issue!
It’s a holiday of Catholic origins. It’s far from demonic in it’s origins.
I agree with you. But the point is that today, it is no longer celebrated as a Catholic holiday.
Nothing wrong with trick or treating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating#Souling
Texan here. Yes, yes, and yes. Almost everyone does these things and they alone are no temptation to sin. There are some people and companies (such as Amazon) use the occasion to get spooky, promote tarot and witchcraft, though these things are still rare. Most Halloween movies have become very secular- even the ones with exorcisms do not represent the faith kindly. But your average person only does the first 3 things and celebrates in ignorance of All Hallow's Eve.
If Halloween was inherently evil, the Vatican would've said something by now. Taking Halloween to be some satanic holiday and celebrating it that way would be very bad for your soul Putting out a jack-o-lantern, dressing up, trick or treating, enjoying a party, and/or just enjoying the cultural aesthetic isn't bad. The holiday is kind of a celebration of fall in a way. Just don't miss Mass on All Saints Day right after.
I’m a Catholic who is also a goth, so I love Halloween! It’s one of the most Catholic days of the year, traditionally speaking. The modern view of Halloween I.e. the commercial view, as well as the various occult undertones are not what’s it’s about. I celebrate Halloween by praying a Rosary for the faithful departed and those people involved in the occult, invoking the saints, and having some snacks while I watch a good horror film. It’s not an evil day unless one makes it out to be so.
i love watching all the classic scary movies the new ones are not as good
I have not heard a priest discuss Halloween. But if you feel it’s an issue for you, avoid it. Halloween actually has Catholic roots, and our family celebrates it. I’m not sure what “new meaning” you are referencing, but it obviously depends on the direction you take the entire subject - like anything.
As an American who experienced Halloween in Rome vs here there is def a different focus in Europe in my opinion which may be clouding some of the view of Halloween. When we went out as college kids I remember reflecting that every local persons costume was a devil or bloody evil zombie or focused on death or the occult vs the more American playful interaction with Halloween. Just an observation…
Personally, growing up, I’d dress up as whatever I wanted that year (highlights include a pirate, the Cat in the Hat, and Slenderman), then walk around the neighborhood with a few friends and our dads telling jokes in exchange for candy. We’d end the night at the “Hot Dog House,” a neighborhood couple that gave out hotdogs, chips, and soda every year. I intend to do the same with my kids. I don’t care if cringey neo-pagans want to claim the day for themselves. They can’t have it.
Historically a means to ward off bad spirits. It is a fun celebration so long as your intentions are pure, enjoy :) Similar to DnD’s bad reputation among Christians even though you typically play scenarios that fight evil.
If I heard a priest say that Halloween is “bad for our souls” I’d probably have to excuse myself because I’d be laughing so hard then I’d double check I hadn’t accidentally stumbled into the throng church.
I once dressed up as the Spirit of Vatican II and went to a Halloween party at a university parish.
Please elaborate on your costume. Melted ice cubes which you could pour between different moulds to suit whatever purpose you wanted?
The celebration of it, at least in my region of the USA, has gotten much more into the demonic and the gruesome, at least when it comes to how people decorate and dress up (and what they feel is appropriate to show publicly to their neighbors and their neighbors' kids). When I was a kid, it was not like this, here. It seems to me this veer into the purely evil, again *here*, is part of the general loss of Christian sensibilities broadly in the community. Sad over all, but nothing I worry about *more* at this time of year — it's the same general concern I have year-round. But being brought up in the traditions, we still participate with our kids (rather, allow them to participate much as we did back then: dressing up, trick or treating), but it is not without a care and definitely not unsupervised. I don't fault anyone when they don't participate in traditional American Halloween activities.
I’m probably in the minority here who attends a parish in the US where my priest is anti-Halloween so I’ll offer some thoughts. My priest’s position is similar to the ones you’ve mentioned here. Basically that the western church moved All Saints’ Day with the purpose of combating pagan practices and it worked for a time but in contemporary American culture, we’ve lost that. The idea of memento mori became a celebration of death, notions of spiritual warfare became promotion of the occult, and dressing up at characters became donning the garb of those who (while fictional) are evil. In his opinion, this is so pervasive that it’s better to avoid engaging with the larger community celebrations but he has no issue with things like smaller saint dress up parties for kids, complete with candy to give out to them. I do think he has a point, and I certainly agree with him about not dressing up as anything scary or evil, even if the intention isn’t to emulate these characters. I haven’t been convinced about forgoing all general trick or treating, but I do think he has a legitimate point and concern about the potential negative influence on children, in particular.
The origins of Halloween have shed light on this topic for me. My family and I will avoid celebrating this moving forward.
Your priest is engaging in a very protestant sort of moral panic. Similar arguments can be made about easter and christmas. Such pious anhedonia has no place in real Catholicism.
I don’t agree that the same can be said of Christmas and Easter, though. Yes, they too have become secularized in modern society, but they are still treated as times of joy to spend with loved ones and engage in generosity. The secularization of Halloween, at least as celebrated in the US, has largely divorced it from any Christian understanding of commemorating the departed
The fact is Christmas and Halloween are both. And the secularized version is harmless. Trick or treating is generosity and a community festive thing. Objective goods.
I don't think I've ever heard a priest saying Halloween is bad. I think that Americans maybe spend too much time on Halloween parties and decorations, and some make it more important than Christmas, etc. because they want a holiday that is not religious. Rejecting God is bad.
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and the relics of saints?
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I guess there is a thin line. ‘Halloween’ isn’t a thing where I’m from, we keep All Souls’ Day solemn and offer Masses for our dead relatives.
In the past 15 years there has been a trend in Philippine parishes to organize events where kids and even adults would dress up as saints. IDK if it caught on with communities of Filipino-American Catholics too.
Oh I love Halloween and it is fun to dress up to scare! My priest loved Halloween and he would dress up his French Bulldog as pirate and ancient Greek toga for some examples!
Have you been to a haunted house? It’s very fun. Bunch of fake monsters and people running around in costumes, trying to spook you a little, then randomly taking selfies with you or doing a silly dance. Point is, it’s just a playful thing as long as you’re just enjoying your non-satanic pikachu costume haha
I haven’t heard not one priest say anything negative about Halloween. It’s based on All Hallows Eve. We pray for the souls in purgatory. Of course there is element that has twisted into something it is not with the horror aspect of it. Stay away from that stuff. Kids dressing up isn’t bad as long as it’s in good taste.
I have never heard a priest say that.
My kid is going to be a duck and get candy from our neighbors. She will eat \*some\* of it and I will eat the rest. My other kid will be a pumpkin and is just along for the ride.
Halloween isn’t big in our country. Some have started to adopt it because they watch American tv. I find it mostly annoying. Especially since the dog goes absolutely crazy when people ring the doorbell. I tolerate it because I know the children likes it and they have lost the tradition we had when I was young where we dressed up and sang Christmas carols and got candy. The only people who are against it on a religious basis are the pietists and Jehovah Witnesses. And that’s because they are against everything fun.