Is Halloween Dangerous?

As Halloween is quickly approaching, my wife and I have continued to talk about this day and whether or not it’s a day worth celebrating in our home. We’ve all heard the allegations: Halloween is a pagan rite dating back to some pre-Christian festival among the Celtic Druids that escaped church suppression. Even today modern pagans and witches continue to celebrate this ancient festival. If you let your kids go trick-or-treating, they will be worshiping the Devil and pagan gods.

Yet like most kids, when my wife and I were little, we loved the idea of Halloween and dressing up as our favorite characters, going door-to-door with our parents to get candy! It wasn’t about the demonic for us, rather it was about getting candy in funny costumes! Yet over the years, my wife and I both had our share of boycotting the day as we learned about the evil practices that also 'haunt' this day. But is it really just an pagan holiday fueled by the Devil to get people to (unknowingly) worship the Devil and all things dead and demonic? What are the real origins of Halloween? And is it really a decisive holiday of the Devil?

First, lets look at the true origins of this holiday. Halloween is, in fact, very Christian and rather American holiday. The day itself falls on October 31 because of a pope, and its observances are the result of medieval Catholic piety.

It’s true that the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain celebrated a minor festival on October 31–as they did on the last day of most other months of the year. However, Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Solemnity of All Saints, or “All Hallows,” falls on November 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in Heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III (d. 741) moved it to November 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. And so the holy day spread to Ireland.

The day before was the feast’s evening vigil, “All Hallows Eve,” or “Hallowe’en.” In 998, St. Odilo, the abbot of the powerful monastery of Cluny in southern France, added a celebration on November 2. This was a day of prayer for the souls of all the faithful departed. This feast, called All Souls Day, spread from France to the rest of Europe.

Since now the Church had feasts for all those in Heaven and all those in Purgatory. What about those in the other place? It seems Irish Catholic peasants wondered about the unfortunate souls in Hell, and figured if they didn’t get a holiday, then they might be unhappy enough to cause trouble. So it became customary to bang pots and pans on All Hallows Eve to let the damned know they were not forgotten. Thus, in Ireland at least, all the dead came to be remembered–even if the clergy were not terribly sympathetic to Halloween and never allowed “All Damned Day” into the church calendar.

But if you notice, banging pots and letting those in Hell that they aren’t forgotten is really not what Halloween is all about? Instead, we run around in goofy costumes and ask for candy! This custom of dressing up arose in France during the 14th and 15th centuries. When late medieval Europe was hit by repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague, it lost about half its population. Of course with this kind of epidemic going around, Catholics became more concerned about the afterlife.

More Masses were said on All Souls Day, and artistic images were created to remind everyone of their own mortality. Some of these included the image of the “danse macabre”, or “dance of death,” which was commonly painted on the walls of cemeteries, showing the Devil leading a line of people–popes, kings, ladies, knights, monks, peasants, lepers, etc.–into the tomb. It soon became customary to host this dance on All Souls Day itself with a reenactment of people dressed up in the garb of various states of life.

But the French dressed up on All Souls, not Halloween; and the Irish, who had Halloween, did not dress up. How the two became mingled probably happened first in the British colonies of North America during the 1700s, when Irish and French Catholics began to intermarry. The Irish focus on Hell gave the French masquerades an even more ghoulish twist.

But where on earth did “trick or treat” come in? ”Treat or treat” is perhaps the oddest and most American addition to Halloween and is the unwilling contribution of English Catholics.
During the penal period of the 1500s to the 1700s in England, Catholics had no legal rights. They could not hold office and were subject to fines, jail and heavy taxes. It was a capital offense to say Mass, and hundreds of priests were martyred.

Occasionally, English Catholics resisted. One of the most popular acts of resistance was a plot to blow up the Protestant King James I and his Parliament with gunpowder. This was supposed to trigger a Catholic uprising against the oppressors. Yet the ill-conceived Gunpowder Plot was foiled on November 5, 1605, when the man guarding the gunpowder named Guy Fawkes, was captured and arrested. He was hanged and the plot was terminated.

However, on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, became a great celebration in England, and so it remains. During the penal periods, bands of revelers would put on masks and visit local Catholics in the dead of night, demanding beer and cakes for their celebration: trick or treat!

So when Guy Fawkes Day arrived in the American colonies with the first English settlers, Guy Fawkes had pretty much been forgotten. Yet trick or treat, though, was too much fun to give up, so eventually it moved to October 31, the day of the Irish-French masquerade. And in America, trick or treat wasn’t limited to just Catholics.

All-in-all, Halloween in and of itself is really a mixture of various immigrant traditions that pretty much all came together in the United States to form what we commonly practice each year. As for the other elements of Halloween like witches and jack-o’ lanterns; they were added in later help the greeting card industry and promote the more ghoulish commercial side of Halloween.

So its very clear that the holiday has more Christian origins to its beginning than pagan, but does that mean that it is okay for every Catholic to go out and dress-up like a scary vampire, ghost or zombie every year? Let alone, is it even okay for a Catholic to celebrate such a day?



There have obviously been some growing trends and themes over the years that have begun to turn this day into more of a demonic celebration than a day to prepare for the Holy Day to come the next morning. This growing trend has even caught the attention of the Vatican, which put out a statement to Catholics in 2011 that Halloween is becoming “anti-Christian and dangerous.”



The condemnation followed criticism from Catholic bishops who also urged parents not to let their children dress up as ghosts and goblins. It was also stated in an article entitled “The Dangerous Messages of Halloween”, the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano saying: “Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian.” The article went on to urge 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”. 



Another Catholic group, the influential Association of Pope John XXIII, joined the condemnation, calling it a “great Satanic ritual”. It said: “We appeal to the whole Catholic community not to promote this recourse to the macabre and the horrific. All parents and all those that hold the values of life dear should know that Halloween is an adoration of Satan, which is carried out underhand through parties and games for children and adults.”



The Catholic Church in Italy has taken a dim view of Halloween celebrations for years. The head of the Catholic Church's anti-occult and sect unit, Aldo Bonaiuto, also warned parents of the dangers to children and said the event “promotes the culture of death”. He added: “Halloween pushes new generations towards a mentality of esoteric magic and it attacks sacred and spiritual values through a devious initiation to the art and images of the occult. At best, it gives a big helping hand to consumerism and materialism.”

It is clear as the Church points out, that Halloween has become a holiday that promotes practices of the occult, and glorifies the culture of death, which is so true when we see the popularity of vampires and zombies growing. It is also true how this holiday now has also boosted consumerism and materialism in the world! It is said that next to Christmas, Halloween sells the most collectible in the world. I would venture to say, as Satan is often called the “great ape of God” taking what God has done and often perversely mirroring it in his own evil and demonic way; he could be also adopting this holiday to make it his own anti-Christmas.



My suggestion to counter this day and its demonic practices is, as the Vatican urges, to celebrate it in the same way any vigil before a feast is celebrated, with prayer! And if you choose to dress up or hold a party, dress up as your favorite saint, angel or biblical character and go to an “All Saints Party”! There will be plenty of goodies there to satisfy any sweet tooth!



Bottom line, celebrate the Holy Ones! Not the damned ones! Make Heavenly noise to remind the damned not that they aren’t forgotten, but rather that they aren’t welcome on this vigil of All Saints!

God love you all! Pray the Rosary daily!

I Saw A Great Darkness

Recently my attention was drawn to an interesting passage was posted by a parishioner of my Church on Facebook from the visions of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, whose now famous (and fascinating) book, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the inspiration for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and one of the absolute best sources of Lenten meditation you can lay hands on.

The article she posted highlighted these points from her vision:

“I saw also the relationship between two popes … I saw how baleful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city of Rome. The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness…

“I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps.”

“I see the Holy Father in great anguish. He lives in a palace other than before and he admits only a limited number of friends near him. I fear that the Holy Father will suffer many more trials before he dies.

“I see that the false Church of darkness is making progress and I see the dreadful influence it has on the people. The Holy Father and the Church are verily in so great a distress that one must implore God night and day…”

Here are my thoughts on this for it is very intriguing to me. For one I must say that after Pope Benedict made his announcement to retire, many… even myself, said this is the chance for our next Holy Father to really take hold of the spiritual divide in the Church between conservative/traditionalists and liberal/modernists and clear some things up. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were already making headway in answering the big questions of the times with clear answers. But now it was time for a new Holy Father to come out and really step on some toes! I my reaction to the lightening striking St. Peter’s dome twice signified something big was about to happen.

Then the doors opened and Pope Francis stepped out onto the balcony. I fell in love with him, despite the fact he was a Jesuit. But I felt good about his humility and desire for the world to return to prayer. In his first homily as Pope, he preached against following worldliness, or else we would be preaching the way of the Devil.

He was beginning to make waves… until in his good will he began to act like more like a simple Bishop than the Pope. Yes of course, the Pope is the Bishop of Rome… but he is also the Head of the Roman Catholic Church.

I still love our Holy Father, Pope Francis… yet I still have yet to see him continue the momentum that Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul started. Instead he seems to focus on more of the basics of being a Christian; love your neighbor; take care of the poor; love your enemies… all good things to know and practice… but not what we need right now in this time of confusion and divide amongst all the political jargon. We need clear-cut answers. Definitive movements of a renewal of faith and devotion in the world. And not open-ended vague answers that leave the press enough meat to build a sandwich of more confusion and lies about the Church for us to feed on.

Given, I know our Holy Father means well in all that he does, and doesn’t intend for his comments and actions to be misinterpreted by the media. But I only pray for him that he begins to realize, if he really wants to “rebuild the Church” as St. Francis was told to do by God… then he needs to get out his hammer and start pounding in the nails of penance, devotion, and sacrifice into the hearts of all ungrateful mankind.

Now with that being said, does what Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich saw in her vision relate to this time of “great darkness” in the Church that she saw? Are we in darkness? One thing is for sure, and that is the fact that we are beginning to “split into two camps”, the conservative/traditionalists and the liberal/modernists.

One side thinks it needs to be more reverent to Our Lord and follow practices of penance, sacrifice and piety. The other thinks the faith needs to be more progressive, worldly and fun, so that all will join and see that Jesus is more of our “buddy” than a just judge ready to smite you for your sins. But is this idealism that has sprung forth from Vatican II the “false Church of darkness” that she speaks of? And why call it the “false Church”? Clearly she doesn’t mean what many Sedevacantists would like to think she means by saying that the Church of Christ no longer exists in Rome anymore because (as they believe), the Chair of Peter has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius X, therefore those of us who follow this Vatican II Church are apart of a “false Church”?

No, I believe what she is meaning by “false Church” does not have to do with the Pope, but rather the fact on how the Church has been conducting herself since Vatican II. That may in fact be the “false Church” she is referring too; a Church that has lost its original zeal.

All-in-all, does this mean that she is speaking of the Church of today and of Pope Francis? Maybe… maybe not? Regardless it should cause a lot of us to “implore God night and day…” and especially pray for our Holy Father.

God love you all! Pray the Rosary daily!

Hell is for Real!

A while back I posted about Purgatory and its reality after death. In this article today I want to talk about Hell and it's reality since in todays way of thinking, many seem to believe that there is some universal salvation system in which everyone is going to Heaven. This is not true, nor does the Church teach this as true. Hell is a real place and if you die in the state of mortal sin, you will go to Hell. St. Teresa of Avila tells us how God showed her her place in Hell indicating that without God's grace and without us following and cooperating with His will during our time on Earth, that there is a place for all of us waiting in Hell. So this idea that all are saved, is not always the case.

Hell by definition is the place were souls are sent for all eternity because during their life on Earth, they choose a life without God… And therefore that's what they got. What we can also know about the sufferings of Hell, we can know from our own nature and from justice. Since with God the punishment fits the crime. Which means that in different levels of Hell people suffer differently based upon the particular crimes they committed on Earth. In this life the amount of suffering we can withstand is based upon the limitations of the flesh. Not so however in Hell. In Hell we are incorruptible and therefore the sufferings are even more intense, and not to mention… They are forever. So when we consider the nature of man, we can consider the different ways in which man can suffer. One of those ways is with the sense of touch, and with touch comes the sense of pressure and temperature. The saints tell us how in Hell there is a great feeling of pressure; of being pinned, crushed or trapped and unable to escape. There is also the feeling of burning in Hell, not just exteriorly, but throughout the whole body. There even some places in Hell that the saints say that it is freezing cold, and so the souls of the damned will go from the burning to the freezing. Yet when they enter into the cold, they freeze and so they find that they can never find relief. 

Then there is sense of taste. If you can imagine drinking the foulest sewer water, this is nothing compared to what your sense of taste will experience in Hell. In the case of the sense of smell, the saints often describe the smell sulfur and brimstone existing in Hell. With sight, those who are in Hell see all the others who are suffering in Hell, as well as Devil and all his demons. Therefore you see the entire horror of Hell. There will also be a great darkness in Hell, since light is a gift from God, and therefore it doesn't exist in Hell.

Besides the suffering of all your exterior senses, the there is also the discussion of the interior senses that will suffer as well. The first of these is the common sense, which helps to bring order all the senses. In Hell, your common sense will go away and therefore all the senses will come at once causing great confusion. Also you will not be able to control your imagination. On Earth we have the ability to control our imagination to some degree, but in Hell it will be uncontrollable and we will be face with the images of horrific things. It is also said that in Hell, the Devil and his demons, along with some of even the damned will be able to play with your imagination and forcibly cause you to see even more horrific things that we would never be able to comprehend in this life. We will have a great anger at God and those who caused us or helped us to end up in Hell, and there will be a great despair in knowing we can never be saved.

Hell is nothing to joke about. It is a real place and we all have the opportunity of ending up there if we do not seek the help and grace of God in this life. Believing that one will be saved just for being a good person is foolish. There is even a story of St. Bruno in which a horrible event took place at Paris before he left the city. A Doctor, who had always been considered very learned and at the same time very pious, died. His death seemed a very happy one, as it followed soon after his having received the holy Sacraments. But when the corpse was brought to the church, for the funeral ceremonies and the usual prayers, behold! the dead man arose during the Office of the Dead, to the great horror of all present, and cried, with a terrible voice: " The Justice of God has accused me! " On the second day, when the clergy had reached the same lesson in the Office, the body again moved, and cried in the same fearful tones: " The Justice of God has rejected me!" On the third day, the same happened : the dead sitting up, cried with a still more awful voice: "The Justice of God has condemned me!" The feelings of all present may easily be imagined. There was not one among them who did not turn pale, and all left the Church in fear and trembling.

Again the moral of this story is to remember that our salvation is not guaranteed! We must strive always to do God's will, receive the Sacraments, do good to our neighbors and always live piously. 

God love you all! Pray the Rosary Daily!

Reverence at Mass

For anyone who has ever been to a Latin Mass, most will quickly notice how much reverence is given not only by the Priests, Deacons and servers, but also the laity. Now I must also say that there are many Masses even in the Norvus Ordo (aka: English Masses) that are also very reverent, and that is such a breath of fresh air to see in a world that has been so lost in the secularization of everything. Yet at the same time there are unfortunately a majority of Norvus Ordo Masses that have fallen into Liturgical Abuses. Having the Holy Mass said in ways and forms that have in the end caused people to view the Mass as a form of entertainment, over something holy and spiritual. Because of these abuses, many have become lost in what is the appropriate practices in the Mass? What is the right way of decorum when you are standing before Christ in the tabernacle?

Let's go through the Mass step by step:

1. When you arrive at Mass you must remember that you are truly in the presence of Almighty God. Present with you are all the choirs of Angels in Heaven along with all the Saint and our loved ones who have gone before us. In His present as it is said, "Every knee shall bend, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord." Therefore if you are in the presence of Almighty God, you must act accordingly, for you are in the presence of the King of Kings! Clothing should be proper, and modest. No bare shoulders, short skirts, low-cut dresses or jeans. No tennis shoes, sandals or flip flops. I don't know who ever came up with the phrase, "Well if Jesus wore sandals, then so can I." I don't think so. Jesus lived in a time in which sandals were the only appropriate form for footwear… Now we have such thing as formal shoes and dress-ware and therefore we should honor our Lord by dressing in our "Sunday best"! It's a shame when even our Protestant brothers & sisters are dressing better than us for church.
2. Whenever we enter into the sanctuary we must genuflect to our Lord in the tabernacle. Again, "Every knee shall bend, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord." It breaks my heart whenever I see someone bowing to the altar and completely turning their back to the tabernacle. Especially when in some churches the Tabernacle is placed in the back of a church. Which according to canon law, "The tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved is to be situated in some part of the church or oratory which is distinguished, conspicuous, beautifully decorated, and suitable for prayer." We should not be putting Our Lord in the back of the Church, He should always be front and center. Whenever we pass by the tabernacle in the church we must always genuflect/bow to Our Lord who is fully present there. And if He is exposed for Benediction, a double genuflection is most appropriate! (A double genuflection is when you go down on both knees and bow to Our Lord.) Yet of course if you are unable to due to medical complications, that is okay.
3. Music in the Church should always be reverent and not distracting during the Holy Mass. The use of trumpets, guitars, and drums does not maintain the sacred silence and peace during Mass. Gentle hymns and light piano or organ music is good for keeping the mind in harmony with the sacredness of the Mass and helps to maintain constant prayer and reverence during even the consecration. There should also never be any clapping during the Mass. This can also be another form of distraction.
4. During the "Our Father" we have become accustomed to holding hands in America. I don't know who ever started this practice, but since the time it started, it has become more of a distraction than an uplifting spiritual union of people praying together, and to me seems to have more Protestant roots than Catholic. The same goes for the sign of peace, which in the Latin Mass is only exchanged between the clergy. This suddenly can also become a distraction during Mass, as for some it even turns into a social event in the midst of the Consecration. Instead, when engaging in the sign of peace in the Norvus Ordo Mass, maintain your composer to give one the sign of peace without giving into stretching over the pews to shake someones hand, or hollering across the church to a dear friend. I would also venture to say that giving the “peace sign” to someone sitting far away is not appropriate either for during Mass.
5. In the Latin Mass, the reception of Holy Communion is done on the tongue while kneeling. As it has been made aware to those of us, none of the laity should touch Our Lord since our hands are not consecrated, only the Priest's hands are. Therefore it is more reverent to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist on the tongue, rather than in the hand. Our hands are unclean, and at times have caused us to sin… Therefore we should not allow our hands to touch our most pure and Holy Lord. Even the Priest who is guilty of sin as well, goes through a series of cleansing prayers and even washes his hands to make himself worthy enough to touch Our Lord during the consecration. We must also make note that the use of Extraordinary Ministers is only for the purpose of times when there aren't enough Priests or Deacons to distribute Holy Communion. Otherwise EME's are not necessary at every Mass.
6. After the reception of Holy Communion, we have often become accustomed to making the sign of the cross as we walk back to our pew. This is a practice that, as reverent as it is, is not actually necessary. When we receive Our Lord in the Eucharist we are receiving the greatest blessing we could ever receive. Therefore, the act of blessing ourselves again is not required. Rather it is more important to walk back to our pews as individual tabernacles of Our Lord. Our hands should be folded in prayer and not at our side or folded over our chests. Our eyes need to be focused in prayer, and not wandering around to see what others are doing around us. And when we arrive back in our pews be must make a proper act of thanksgiving to Our Lord
7. Towards the end of Mass we should not leave until the priest has left. It was often reminded to me that those who leave after communion are only repeating what Judas did at the Last Supper. And most of all at the end of Mass, there should be no clapping. The Mass is not a show… It’s the greatest form of prayer that could ever be said.

If you were unaware of these reverent practices before, don't worry. But now you know. And don't think, "Well these are practices are only for those who attend the Latin.” One of the purposes of Pope Benedict’s Motto Proprio, Summarium Pontificum, was to allow Ordinary Form Roman Rite to learn from the Extraordinary Rite and adopt certain practices of reverence, and prayer that were at one time before Vatican II, common place in every Catholic Church. It is important to often look at these rubrics practiced in the Latin Mass and also question why they are no longer practiced in the Norvus Ordo Masses. You might be surprised to learn that the reasons for the change aren’t found in the documents of Vatican II.

God love you all! Pray the Rosary daily!