What to Make of Halloween?
A message from Interim Vice President for Mission and Identity Tom Ryan, Ph.D.
Halloween is the beginning of the end, in many ways. As the Eve of All Saints Day (All Hallows Eve), it anticipates an intensive focus on the dead and death. The next day, November 1, celebrates all the Saints and emphasizes for the living our call to holiness in this life and the next. All Souls Day on November 2 (followed by the remainder of the month of November that Catholics observe as the Month of the Dead) remembers all the dead. It also serves as a reminder that, in some mysterious way, the living and the dead remain, through the Church, in relationship and benefit from each other’s prayers.
The month of November also brings the liturgical year (which begins again with the first Sunday of Advent) to a close. Mass readings during this time become increasingly apocalyptic. They deploy odd imagery (see, for example, the daily readings from the Book of Revelation toward the end of November). Their point is not only to acknowledge life’s difficulties and anxieties but also to encourage hope because, ultimately, God who can be trusted is in control.
What to do about Halloween costumes, haunted houses, candy, etc. is an important pastoral question. At its best, Halloween builds community with neighbors and across generations; it brings joy in anxious times; it mocks death and invites creativity. It can also be a conversation starter about life’s big questions and our call to holiness through solidarity with people across space and time.
