” “Those pumpkins are empty” “” “

“The image of Jack the pumpkin [protagonist of an ancient Irish legend, assumed as the symbol of Halloween] must not be allowed to cancel the face of the saints and the memory of the dead from the memory of the present generations”: that’s the appeal of the Office of social communications of the bishops of Belgium in a press release drawing attention to the imminent liturgical feast of All Saints and the commemoration of the dead (1 and 2 November). Both events risk being “usurped” and emptied of significance by the commercial phenomenon – now widespread throughout the Western world – of Halloween, to which the Church of Paris has also responded with an original initiative. Belgium: “the saints aren’t boring”. “The Catholic Church celebrates the 1st November as the feast of All Saints”, whose origins go back to 607, the year of Pope Boniface IV’s consecration to ‘all the saints’ of the ancient Roman temple of the Pantheon, formerly dedicated to the pagan gods”: so says a communiqué issued in recent days by the press office of the Belgian Episcopal Conference. “Saintliness – explains the document – is not synonymous with human perfection: the saints are not the boring ‘top of the class’. Saintliness is the sign of the work of the Spirit in human life”. So the cult of the saints “does not intend to honour supermen and superwomen more to be admired than imitated, but rather reminds each Christian that he or she must take the Gospel seriously, even in the humblest gestures of our daily life”. “On the 2nd November – notes the same document – the Catholic Church prays for all the dead” and this day, established in the High Middle Ages, “has a triple objective”. First, it “recalls that not all the dead succeeded in completing their spiritual journey” and “therefore ‘rely’ on the prayer of the living to be able to reach the contemplation of God”. Second, the day reminds “man of his moral condition” and, third, it invites him to “be at the side of those whose life has been torn apart by a cruel loss”. But these are also days in which, the communiqué notes, “our young children have for several years been immersed in the folklore that surrounds the ancient Celtic feast of Halloween. Speaking of death frightens people and, apart from the commercial aspects, the current infatuation with Halloween seems to wish to help our children to ‘tame’ this fear”. Yet, the document concludes, “the feast of All Saints and the day of prayer for the dead have great educational value for these future adults by teaching them that they are mortal and that each human person, each in his own way, is called to become a saint”. Paris: “Holy wins”. This is the title of the evangelization campaign promoted for the second year running by the diocese of Paris. On 31 October, the eve of All Saints, a group of young people will distribute 200,000 copies of a magazine which proposes “an attitude of Christian hope to death” throughout the city, and especially at the entrance to three cemeteries. Title of the publication: “Holy Wins 2003″, which, even if it sounds similar to Halloween, has quite a different sense in English”. The magazine contains reflections and testimonies by famous personalities – including Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris, and the television presenter Patrick Poivre d’Arvor – on suffering and on death. Several hundred youngsters, say the organisers, “will then bear witness to their faith in front of the church of Saint-Sulpice, where some groups will proclaim Christ to the rhythms of Christian rock and reggae”. The church will remain open all night for a great prayer vigil during which it will be possible to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Another four dioceses are participating in the campaign: Hyères with an “artistic Mass”, Lille with a gospel concert, Rheims with the launch of the campaign “November, month of life”, and Versailles with the distribution of a children’s paper.