www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Byzantine Catholic Halloween Liturgy!?

Dear Etnic,

It is not that I don't mind, it is that I read through it carefully and did not jump to the conclusion of hysteria that this would be another 'Halloween Mass'. It did not reference the Liturgy as such, and it did not say that the Priest would be officiating as a clown or any thing other than a priest.

I was also trying to be fair in that perhaps it was a mistake of the priest to ask the kids to come in costume to the service, but that many Eastern churches do have Halloween parties for the children in the social halls.

I have children and as I said, I know how much they love to wear their costumes, so maybe this was just a way of enticing them to come to liturgy.

I simply did not want to jump to hysterical conclusions.

Having said that, yesterday's sermon by our deacon mentioned that he heard that Halloween is the second biggest consumer spending holiday in the U.S....and that how much better it would be if we donated the money of all those decorations, costumes, candy, etc. to the poor.

My theory about the increasing decoration I see, living in an area of the North East that has many non-Christians, is that their children felt left out at Christmas by not being able to 'deck out' their houses with decorations and lights, so they started using Halloween to this end. Ofcourse, merchants in this country, ever eager to make money jumped on the bandwagon.

Personally, I do not like the extreme of any holiday decorations that Americans espouse. I prefer the traditional Colonial style of wreath for Christmas, holly around the lamp post, and candles in the window and that is what I have always done. I think that lights all over the house, and all sorts of blown up santas, snowmen, reindeer, for Christmas, and tombstones, witches, blown up pumpkins, ghouls, etc.... are a waste of money and tasteless! When I was young and when the kids were young, a nice pumpkin outside the front door sufficed...

The holiday consumerism in this country, Halloween or Christmas, is something close to being utterly ridiculous.

Alice

Back to the original post - does anyone know what finally happened at St. Emilian's on Halloween?

I should correct myself to say, what happened on Sunday, November 2, not on Halloween...

The topic of Hallowwen services interested me, so I contacted my aunt who is a member of the Byzantine Catholic church. She actually knows someone who is a member at this community. I know people who live in this area too, and some have attended this church From what her friend told her, nothing happened there as many have implied on this forum. The congregation's pastor only wanted them to come to the social for all the community's children. Her friend was involved in the children's social after their worship service and it was more about having fun and making friends, not Halloween. Their priest-pastor is very strict in letting bizzare and weird things go on at their worship and she told my aunt that their worship was not afffected. They joked how he once told his people on Sunday that the previous day he married two "guys". He, i believe, is from Eatern Europe and is still learning the idioms of English. I guess they like teasing him on it,but are proud that he speaks so well.Now, outsiders probably wouild love to investigate whether homosexual marriages were being done there (me too wouild be interested) but he meant two "people". Everyone got a big laugh. I asked my aunt to check out the change on the website since that seems to indicate a change of heart of what might have been planned. It too was a mistake and many were horrified that it stimulated so much controversy. I wanted to ask if a Halloween mass was a new thing in the RDL church,but didn't. I would like to believe my aunt and her friend who is a member there since my worsd are only hearsay. They never lied to me yet. I would like to visit it since it seems so orthodox. Do they really have old slanvonic services? I remember attending a Latin mass and a German Lutheran service.

Ed Hashinsky

I seriously doubt that would happen. The pastor is a young, recently-married/ordained (within the last 5 years) priest from the Eparchy/Diocese of Presov, Slovakia. I served at a concelebrated Old Slavonic Divine Liturgy at the Pilgrimage in Uniontown, Pa. in 2005. He was one of the concelebrating priests. I had some conversation with him. He appeared to have traditional leanings. I have yet to see aberrational "halloween" celebrations by any Catholic Eastern clergy.

Dn. Robert

Dear Deacon Robert Behrens,

Your post seems in sync with my aunt's friend who is a member of that community. This thread seems to have already tried, convicted, and expunged his worthy name without a proper hearing. With fellow believers like these, who needs enemies?

I contacted my aunt after posting today. I wanted to let her know that the other sideof the story got out, so this doesn't become a heartless and un-Christian kangaroo court. After all the mud-slinging was done, no one really knew what actually happeneed there! I am glad that this time I was actually able to get the know behind the allegations (of all people!).

SOmeday I will like to visit this community. From what I hear, they are pretty focused on the Gospel. That's MY kind of Christian community!

Ed

Dear Alice,

At least the candle in the window has an Irish origin: during the persecutions here the Catholics would put a candle in the window to signal the priest that the house was safe, and ready to welcome him.

No doubt the English caught on eventually - but meanwhile the candle in the window served a godly purpose.

Reluctantly, I advise people against it these days - it's too easy for a curtain or something to catch fire. And I don't care electric ersatz candles.

Managed to ignore Hallowe'en quite successfully, even though in some districts here in Dubln things were truly horrific. Haven't had a Christmas tree in decades, and don't plan to - I prefer to keep the dog inside and the trees outside. But I do use a few other Christmas decorations, including an icon.

Happy election day.

Fr. Serge

Can we get back to the original topic? My Byzantine Catholic aunt and her friend at this particular community are greatly upset at what happened here on this website. They feel that they were trashed in an uncharitable way. The original post might have been a legitimate inquiry, but the replies have mounted to being a back-stabbing, kangaroo court showing no mercy and taking no prisoners. Then the topic gets side-tracked to a discussion on Halloween customs. The original topic was about what was going on or not going on at my aunt's friend's community. From what I discovered, no false accusation made here was realized. Will the Byzantine Catholics on this forum continue to destroy their church in such stealth manner? I've been charged at being anti-Byzantine or anti-Catholic, but I only have to leave it to those IN this church to destroy it. My aunt is horrified that the Devil has found so many new friends to do his battle.

Ed Hashinsky

Where have all the false allegations gone? Is the verdict final from this kangaroo court?

The senseless and unmerciful charges have cause much distraught to those in this community (according to what my dear aunt tells me). Never did they think that something could be taken so much out of context the world over regarding their proud (boasting in Christ) community.

I am saddened because my aunt has grown so flustered over these pathetic allegations. I should have kept her in the dark about what was being posted on these forums. But ignorance of what is being charged will not stop it. My notic of this thread in particular has caused a great stir between those who were present there for the so-called Halloween mass.

Will there be apologies forthcoming? Probably not. The drive-bye posters will only wait for their next victim. I best keep quiet since members of this interesting church will be succesful in bringing down their church's walls like Joshua did to Jericho and like the Romans did to the Jerusalem Temple. At least the Muslims were a bit kinder by allowing the great church of Hagia Sophia standing. The merciless would only be pleased to tear down their own Christ-centered communities, one by one, until no stone is left unturned. It is only in their nature to do so.

I hope to console my dear aunt over these blistering and false allegations.

Ed

Ed,

Some are going to jump on any chance to discredit the Church they left in order to make themselves feel better about doing so. I think it is a very common reaction.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Fr. Deacon Lance,

From what I read on their profiles, many are still members of the Byzantine Catholic church, including clergy.

Ed

It appears to me that the original post was not in error, and was posted legitimately. It has since been removed from the referenced website. Perhaps it was a mistake, perhaps not. It is understandable that it would be a point of discussion but it would have been better if someone had contacted the parish before the event to find out if the online bulletin was correct.