HALLOWEEN: HOLIDAY OR "HELL-I-DAY?"

By Tim Rohr

On my "other"blog, THE MASS NEVER ENDS, the most read post since 2011 has been the above titled post. Given that today is October 31, and Halloween for some, I thought I'd link to it here. 

By Tim Rohr

My column this month for the Guam Daily Post.

View from the Gallery

Laughing at death and the devil

I know Halloween has passed, but since this is a monthly column and I only get to submit one column a month, some of the stuff I’ll be writing about will have already happened - like Halloween.

For several years now, there has been an effort mostly among fundamentalist Christians, but also amongst some Catholics to paint Halloween as "the Devil’s Holiday" or “Hell-i-day,” as some call it.

CONTINUED

HAPPY HALLOWEEN (AND I MEAN THAT!)

Posted by Tim (and pardon the diversion from the normal news)

A few decades ago, a movement sprang up bashing Halloween as the "Devil's Holiday." It appears to have had its roots among evangelical groups and gained momentum with a tract by Jack Chick. Chick was a notorious Catholic-hater whose mini cartoon-book tracts proved particularly effective. 

Chick recently died. But his success in demonizing Halloween has retained its traction, not so much among evangelical groups, but, ironically, amongst Catholics. 

The recent practice of dressing up our little boys and girls as saints and angels rather than ghosts and goblins appears to have grown out of a response to the evangelical criticism of Halloween. (Seriously, think about it. If you are 50 year old or older, do you remember dressing up as saints and angels?)

HALLOWEEN: HOLIDAY OR HELL-I-DAY

Pardon the departure from the usual conversation. (Don't worry, we'll be back.) I thought I'd share this post since it's almost that time again. I first wrote it in 2006 and published it on my other blog, TheMassNeverEnds. 

It was republished in Guam's archdiocesan newspaper in 2011. Regardless of the time of year, for some reason it has almost always remained my most viewed post on that blog. Thanks for reading.

HALLOWEEN: HOLIDAY OR HELL-I-DAY?

HALLOWEEN: HOLIDAY OR HELL-I-DAY

NO. They're actually doing it WRONG!

Halloween is around the corner and once again many Catholics will CAVE to the fundamentalist evangelical accusation that Halloween is the "Devil's Holiday". 

They will do this by dressing their kids up as biblical figures or Catholic saints instead of ghosts and goblins. 

But, if the evangelical fundamentalist accusation that Halloween is the "Devil's Holiday" is true enough to make us shed our scary costumes, then Catholics need to do more than just change costumes. They shouldn't celebrate it at all. 

HOWEVER, if any one should dress up as ghosts and goblins and celebrate Halloween, Catholics should, and this post explains why. 

Since it was first posted it at www.TheMassNeverEnds.com two years ago, it has remained one of the most viewed posts. 

Halloween: Holiday or Hell-i-day