It is Halloween night or
the eve of the twin Catholic celebration of All Saint’s Day on Nov. 1 and All
Soul’s Day on Nov. 2. But for all our Christianity, the Philippines which is a
very Catholic or Christian country celebrates Halloween night even if Halloween
really celebrates the darkness of evil. Surprised? I know that certain bishops
or priests have already openly spoken against our celebrating Halloween night,
but this is one issue that I would have wanted the Catholic Bishops Conference
of the Philippines (CBCP) to issue a strong statement like what they issued
against extra judicial killings (EJK) because this is what we should expect
from our Catholic leaders on what should be done. Call it Pastoral care.
Somehow, I came across
an article written by Fr. Gabriele Amorth who was the Vatican’s Chief Exorcist
who performed an estimated 70,000 exorcisms before he died. Fr. Amorth asked
the poignant question, “Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?” For your
information Fr. Amorth condemned the celebration of Halloween because of the
danger to young people who might be lured to the occult, which promotes
suicidal thoughts, psychiatric or psychological stress. Many Catholic parents
tolerate their children to celebrate Halloween because it is just for fun and can
bring no harm!
But Fr. Amorth said, “Halloween
is really a spiritual gathering presented as a form of game, and that is the
equivalent of singing hosannas to the devil. We should understand that Pope
Gregory IV, 843 years after Christ moved the Feast of All Saints Day which was
then celebrated on May 13th to the present November 1st was done in order to
stop the evil tradition which arrived from Ireland of adoring the world of the
dead.” *
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| One of the many scary costumes being done in Nov.1 in the Philippines (photo credit to the owner) |
Fr. Amorth added, “The
Battle against evil begins in the family. The reason why many individuals
become evil is often because so many young people “live without knowing the
sacredness of being children” and therefore do not know what it means to be a
good father or mother.” How very true when we become a tolerant
society we end up tolerating this celebration of evil itself! Call me a killjoy
if you wish, but we cannot throw away our Catholicism simply because we want to
have fun on Halloween night!
This statement by Fr. Amorth is not
far from what we learned from Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three
children whom the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared at the
Cova de Ira in Fatima a hundred years ago. Sister Lucia confided to Carlo
Cardinal Caffara, “The decisive battle between the Lord and the kingdom of
Satan will be over marriage and the family.” Cardinal Caffara was one of
Pope Francis’ 45 handpicked delegates to attend the Ordinary Synod on the
Family in 2015 and he once quipped that the great tragedy of mankind today is
Atheism.”
Whether we accept it or
not, the Philippines is also in the midst of this final battle especially in
the halls of Congress where divorce is being contemplated or debated to become
the law of the land. During the six-year reign of then Pres. Benigno Aquino
III, he finally had the Reproductive Health Bill (RH) passed into law.
Thankfully, the Supreme Court in an en banc decision continued to protect the
rights of the unborn. During that fight against the RH Bill, I had a very
strong adviser in the person of the late Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal
Vidal. *
So will you be
celebrating Halloween tonight and wear masks or even the face of the Devil
complete with horns? Lest you have already forgotten, we are made in the image
and likeness of God, so don’t desecrate yourself just because Halloween is an
innocent celebration and simply it is fun! In case you folks haven’t forgotten,
during the golden years (from 1950 to 1980) we never celebrated Halloween even
if the Philippines was under the Commonwealth of the United States of America
for 50 years.
Somehow things have
changed and all the stores leasing space in all our shopping malls have all
sorts of Halloween costumes and people are buying them like there was no
tomorrow. If there is anything that Filipinos have learned to embrace in our
Christianity is that we are one of the few nations that celebrate All Saints’
and All Souls’ Day with a twin holiday. This is why Filipinos go to their home
provinces to visit the graves of their loved ones and more often than not, have
a reunion with the families.
But even that is fast
changing. In the past, visiting the cemeteries was a solemn occasion. But these
days, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day has become a festive celebration. Sure
we can celebrate the fact that our dearly departed dead are not really dead…
they are living in life eternal, hopefully in eternal bliss. But please don’t
forget to pray for those who are no longer here. Finally, allow me to bring you
a quote from Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan who said, “I am
glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one
night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.” Just because we are not doing
any demonic rituals, we Christians should never celebrate Halloween night! *
The article was written
by Bobit S. Avila of the Philippine
Star titled “Should Christians celebrate Halloween?” which was
published October 31, 2017.
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