Be afraid, be very afraid, of Halloween?
Friday, October 30, 2009
By Bryan Cones
Comments (3)
Oh dear. Looks like Sounding Board author Angelo Stagnaro does not have the ear of the Vatican in his October Sounding board, "Don't be scared of Halloween." The Vatican today condemned Halloween's infiltration into Europe in an article L'Osservatore Romano, according to the UK Telegraph.
Spanish bishops did the same earlier this week: The Bishop of Siguenza-Guadalajara, Jose Sanchez, said there was a risk that Halloween could "replace Christian customs like devotion to saints and praying for the dead."
Maybe that's a little alarmist...
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halloween
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, November 3, 2009I can understand some of the concern. But the real concern is basic commercialism. The Catholic church is very negligent in "celebrating" their own holidays. This year, we heard NADA about All Saints until the actual mass. Normally our church has a display area for parishioners to put pictures of loved ones. All Saints get mentioned in the bulletin. Not this year. I think our parish is too busy getting ready for gym dedication. So go figure. We're already losing it at church so it shouldn't be any surprise to the Vatican.
Halloween
By Anonymous (not verified) on Friday, October 30, 2009The author wonders if the Spanish bishops are being "a little alarmist"? That's like saying the priest sex scandals did a "little harm" to the Church's reputation. This sort of medieval nonsense of worrying over Halloween is not fit for Catholics, who have a longstanding scientific and intellectual tradition (Galileo’s trial and the Inquisition, notwithstanding!). Leave such nonsense to the fundamentalists and try a little trick or treating yourself!
I couldn't agree more with
By Mike Bromley (not verified) on Tuesday, November 3, 2009I couldn't agree more with this comment. The hierarchy spends an awful lot of time, energy, and money worrying about insignifica. When will they begin to worry about real issues? Perhaps, by then, there might not be any significant population of Catholics who will care anymore. As for me, I'm having a treat "bowing" to this comment author.
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