It’s that time of the year when we engage in the long-standing debate on what is actually allowed as a Catholic when it comes to Halloween.
“How Should Catholics Celebrate Halloween?”
As part of the "Ask Fr. Josh" series presented on the Ascension Presents YouTube Channel, this question was answered by Father Josh Johnson himself.
He approached it from three different perspectives: relationship with God, relationship with the Church, and relationship with others.
In the video, Father Josh first explains the origin of the word Halloween itself. Halloween comes from All Hallows Eve, which means that it is the day before All Saints Day!
He then touches on the origins behind what we know today as trick-or-treating.
Father Josh explains that beggars would go to the streets, often door-to-door, asking people for what are called soul cakes. Families would bake soul cakes during this time to hand out to the visiting beggars.
In exchange for their gifted soul cakes, the beggars and their families would offer prayers. Not only prayers for the living family members who gifted the cakes, but also for their departed loved ones as well.
Then, he touches on the long-standing tradition of dressing up as our favorite saints as a way to honor them. He also acknowledges that this isn’t the only option.
“We can also dress up as our favorite superhero because you know what? Sometimes we get really strict on ourselves in the church, and we make up rules that don’t exist.”
He adds,
“God is okay with us having fun.”
Don’t worry, Father Josh acknowledges the presence of evil on Halloween in particular.
He says that although the occult uses this evening to engage in witchcraft and the like, we don’t need to “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
“What we need to do is we need to make Halloween Catholic again,” he says.
Father Josh explains that since Halloween is often celebrated amongst our neighbors and within our communities, it gives us a great opportunity to evangelize.
“...we have an opportunity to invite them–our brothers and sisters in our boundaries–to a relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church that he founded over 2000 years ago.”