It's Time for Catholics to Embrace Halloween

...The Church has surrendered the party to the secular culture. It has happened with Halloween. It is happening with Christmas....

I would draw a distinction between the violent, macabre imagery that characterizes the modern appropriation of Halloween as a kind of secular celebration and the more traditional customs that are characteristic of a Catholic cultural ethos. The descent of Halloween into the madness of an annual fright fest is a relatively recent development, but the true substance of Halloween belongs to the Church. Halloween (or “All Hallows Eve”) is the festive precursor to the celebration of the Church’s public commemoration of All Saints Day.

In terms of customs that are specific to Catholicism, it is all pretty much derivative from the kinds of stuff that you find in the public festivities of Catholic culture. In this regard, Mardi Gras is probably the best point of reference...

... The Protestant reformers were concerned about the practices of medieval Christianity that to them seemed contrary to what they believed the Church should be.

There has been an appropriation of the festivities of Halloween by modern pagans, but please understand that modern paganism is precisely modern and should be distinguished from the cults of ancient religions. The origins and practices of the modern paganism do not extend farther back than the late nineteenth century. Also, remember, the term “pagan” is a slippery one...

There is a lot that is unsavory about the contemporary celebration of Halloween. What does the singular focus on violence, horror, and death have to say about our culture? The traditional, Catholic Halloween placed these realities within the context of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil. The current secularized version of the festival has no salvific content and has been loosed from its theological moorings...

The descent of Halloween into the madness of an annual fright fest is a relatively recent development, but the true substance of Halloween belongs to the Church.

Really? So the Church definitely didn't steal it, at all, from the Celtic holiday of Samhain then? Right... I'll believe that when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet!

Since I met my catholic ‘in-laws’ back in the 70’s they never had a problem celebrating Halloween... Course the ‘church’ I was taken to were absolutely against any kind type or sort of Halloween celebration... I cannot keep up with what is was or will be Catholic.

Halloween started in the Middle Ages as time for caution and reflection (believing that evil is always trying to attack good) on the eve of All Saints Day - one of the most important holy days of the Church.

Halloween wouldn’t exist without the Church, although like everything today, its become completely unmoored from its Christian and spiritual roots.

Halloween started when the Church encountered the Celts and needed to borrow some of their holidays to help convince the locals to convert. Hence, Samhain, the end of summer / harvest festival.

Most Christian holidays have roots that go back to pagan/ancient stuff.
St Valentine's Day? Pope trying to get rid of a Roman fertility party.
Christmas? Roman party of Saturnalia, the winter solstice.
Yule logs, Christmas trees, mistletoe - all come from when Christmas later collided with the Nordic tribes.
Easter - while most of this holiday is Christian-originating, much of the associated stuff like the Easter Bunny, painted eggs, etc is pulled from elsewhere (German/Persian for those two).
St Paddy's Day - This one is primarily Christian, it's pretty much a victory over Irish paganism holiday. But again. symbology like the shamrock or leprechaun is definitely not Christian origin.

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