Trick, Treat, or Triumph: How Catholics Face the Darkness of Hallowe’en

Catholics don’t just know the answer, they participate in it. They do not stare longingly at architectural drawings, they live in the house.

By the end of this month the clocks in the UK will have fallen back, and the days will be shorter. Children will walk home from school in the dark, crunching dead leaves underfoot and trees will stand stripped back to trunk and branches. Darkness and death become more apparent in nature and when the light fades, the darkness starts to take shape.

On the 31st, monsters come out in the form of stories, movies and costumes, principalities manifesting through secondary causes. Children will come knocking on our doors, dressed as vampires, zombies, ghosts and ghouls. They will ask for a treat and threaten a trick for those who refuse to participate. It’s not easy to know how to handle this dark carnival of death, but one thing is clear: as a society we haven’t handled it well.

All Hallows’ Eve is the vigil of All Saints’ Day, when Catholics remember the Church Triumphant. It is not, and should not be understood to be, a standalone festival. The saints are the answer to the question posed by the margins that emerge from the shadows at Hallowe’en. But what if the answer never came? It would look something like the permanent carnival we see all around us. The monstrosity of butchered children and sexual depravity, of broken families and disordered addictions; without the answer it’s Hallowe’enland.

Many parents will find it hard to strike the right balance when it comes to Hallowe’en. There are some who will want to protect their children from any associations whatsoever. Turn the lights out and hide when the monsters come. Others might relish the chance to let the demons out (and in) just a little too much.