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Halloween
Topic Started: Friday, 26. October 2007, 13:06 (967 Views)
PJD

Somewhere in the media this morning I read that they were saying that the Vatican had said that Halloween was the work of the devil. Can't remember the source.

PJD
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garfield

I do hope that 'the Vatican' has done no such thing PJD as it would make them look ridiculous.
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Clare
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Putting the "Fun Dame" into Fundamentalist
PJD
Saturday, 31. October 2009, 19:01
Somewhere in the media this morning I read that they were saying that the Vatican had said that Halloween was the work of the devil. Can't remember the source.
Did you miss Post #42 on this thread, PJD?

Quote:
 
...'Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian.'...
S.A.G.

Motes 'n' Beams blog

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PJD

Yes I did see that Clare But then I knew (or certainly believed) that that post was reliable.

What I sew this morning may just have been the media's interpretation of something the Vatican had said. That all I meant.

PJD
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garfield

I notice the article linked is in the Daily Mail, who are not where I'd go first for important information. Their sources appear to be an article in the Vatican newspaper rather than a direct message from the Pope.

Quote 'But in an article entitled The Dangerous Messages of Halloween, the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano quoted liturgical expert Joan Maria Canals as saying: 'Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian.'

Father Canals urged parents 'to be aware of this and try to direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death'.' Which is fair enough but doesn't amount to Halloween being the work of the Devil

They also quote from 'another Catholic group, the influential Association of Pope John XXIII,' who I have never heard of and can't find on the internet

The other source mentioned is Aldo Bonaiuto, head of the Catholic Church's anti-occult and sect unit, who also does not appear anywhere else.

The Daily Mail would like to have all Christians collectively getting their knickers in a twist over what if handled sensibly is just an excuse for a bit of dressing up and a party.





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Deleted User
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The story was also reported in other newspapers.

Quote:
 
Father Joan María Canals, the director of the Spanish Bishops Conference Committee on Liturgy, condemned parents for permitting their children to go to “un-Christian” parties when they should be focusing on All Saints Day today and All Souls Day on Monday.

Full article at Times online

I still think it is a great pity that the "Night of Light" idea seems to have floundered

KatyA
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Rose of York
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Much depends upon how and why a person or group mark Hallowe'en. I have heard that satanists use the day in an effort to counteract the prayers that will be offered by Christians on All Saints and All Souls Days. On the other hand, the motive for children dressing up, having a few mad antics at a party, and stuffing themselves with goodies is just pure fun.
Keep the Faith!

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Mairtin
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In my childhood in Ireland, when the Catholic Church was totally dominant; Halloween was a major holiday - in fact, the last Monday in October is still a Public Holiday.

Apart from the ducking for apples and other games mentioned by earlier posters, it was also Ireland's traditional "fireworks night" which I suspect had little to do with Halloween and more to do with us NOT celebrating Guy Fawkes night :grin:
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Angus Toanimo
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Patrick
Tuesday, 20. October 2009, 17:29
artemis836
Tuesday, 20. October 2009, 02:24
With October 31st approaching I was wondering.

What do you think?

Is Halloween evil or is it just a fun holiday for the kids to get dressed up and eat candy.

I always celebrated it as a kid and was intending on taking my kids out for treats (one of these days).

Thoughts?
It's evil. It has Protestant origins with Catholic suffering. Any good Catholic would steer clear of "Hallowe'en" and the associated rubbish that goes with it. Same with November 5th, yet another anti-Catholic Protestant invention that sadly many Catholics particpate in.

Both are the Devil's work.
Remember you read it here first. The press and the Vatican just jumped on my bandwagon...

:smoker:
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K.T.B.

Mairtin
Sunday, 1. November 2009, 11:21
Apart from the ducking for apples and other games mentioned by earlier posters, it was also Ireland's traditional "fireworks night" which I suspect had little to do with Halloween and more to do with us NOT celebrating Guy Fawkes night :grin:

My family used to celebrate Guy Fawkes night when I was growing up (I still do with my own family) with fireworks and a bonfire in the back garden. However as soon as we were old enough we were told things about the anti-Catholic origins of the festival, the meaning of the Roman candle firework, which hints at Catholic martyrdom, and of the religious meaning of the Catherine Wheel. More controversially, I remember being told that Guy Fawkes was a good man really. This wasn't done in a heavy handed way, I think it just gave me and my siblings an awareness of our Catholic history.
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Powerofone

Another feisty Yorkshire woman.

"The founder of what is known today as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or more commonly as the Loreto Sisters or the Congregation of Jesus, was the brainchild of the plucky young English woman. Born into a country ruled by Elizabeth I in the era of the great bard, William Shakespeare, at Ripon, in 1585, she grew up in a Catholic family within a persecuted Church.
Two of her relatives were involved in the gunpowder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the now-celebrated Guy Fawkes Plot, and, as a young girl, she spent much of her life on the run. As convents had disappeared in England, at the age of 15 she went to France to join the Poor Clare Sisters, but found the cloistered life of the Franciscan rule was not what she wanted in life.
She knew that there were women in England who had the desire to live their lives dedicated to God, even if they could not be in a cloistered convent, and exactly 400 years ago this year, in 1609"

http://sundayex.catholic.org.hk/fe/2009/fe090802.html
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Deleted User
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CNA
 
Madrid, Spain, Oct 30, 2009 / 12:02 am (CNA).- This week, the Spanish daily “La Razon” published an article discussing the efforts of Catholics in Spain, France and Chile to offer alternatives to customary Halloween activities.
According to the newspaper, Halloween “is not as innocent as dressing up as a witch and creating jack-o-lanterns with scary looking faces.” Father Joan Maria Canals of the Committee on the Liturgy of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference told La Razon that the problem with Halloween is its connection to “occultism and anti-Christianity.”
Parents should “be conscious and channel the meaning of the day towards that which is good and beautiful instead of towards terror, fear and death itself,” he added.
In the Spanish Diocese of Alcala de Henares, the Emmanuel Community will hold a vigil on Saturday night beginning at 10 p.m. Children and young people will be invited to participate in “music, Eucharistic adoration and dancing ‘in a Christian spirit’.”
In Paris, Catholics have created something they call “Holywins.” Organizers of the activity say, “In a society that avoids the issue of death, the feast of Halloween has merit for making us focus on this issue, but it only deals with morbid and macabre rituals.”
For this reason, “the young people of Paris want to take advantage of the feast of Halloween to bear witness to the faith and hope of Christians regarding death on the vigil of All Saints and All Souls,” they said.
“La Razon” also noted that in Santiago, Chile, the evening of October 31 has become an occasion to celebrate a spring festival. “No monsters, ghosts or witches here. All the costumes children wear are of angels, princesses, and even saints,” the article stated, quoting one store owner who said demand has been changing for the past decade.
CNA
There's hope yet
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Joseph

KatyA
Sunday, 1. November 2009, 21:52
CNA
 
Madrid, Spain, Oct 30, 2009 / 12:02 am (CNA
...In the Spanish Diocese of Alcala de Henares, the Emmanuel Community will hold a vigil on Saturday night beginning at 10 p.m. Children and young people will be invited to participate in “music, Eucharistic adoration and dancing ‘in a Christian spirit’.”
“music, Eucharistic adoration and dancing ‘in a Christian spirit’.”

Any thoughts on what that could consist of?

Joseph
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I'm not sure that I want to go there Joseph - but it has to be better than ghoulies & ghosties,long leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night.
:rofl:
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OsullivanB

Joseph
 
dancing ‘in a Christian spirit’.”
A pas de deus?
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer
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