Dear St John's Community,

Trick or treat!

I know I'm a bit late and the horse has bolted...get it...Melbourne Cup, the horse has bolted!

Yeah I know, I should have been a comedian!

In all seriousness though. Normally I do a little spiel about Halloween before the day but it hasn't worked out that way this year.

I always get asked this time of year, why don't Catholic Schools celebrate Halloween? It's a very good question since Halloween is actually a Catholic Tradition.

The word “Halloween” is a traditional Catholic celebration called All Hallows’ Eve. The word “hallow” meaning “holy.” Contrary to popular belief, Halloween does not have any origins in paganism, Satanism, Druidic festivals, or the occult.

In Rome, during the 4th Century, the Catholic Church referred to this time as The Days of the Dead - Hallowtide (Halloween), Hallowmas (All Hallows’ Day or All Saints’ Day or Feast of All Saints) followed by All Hallowtide (All Souls’ Day or Feast of All Souls)

Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day is what the called them mostly today and the Church calls this time a triduum of feast days.

Halloween was a time to remind us to pray for the souls of those who have passed on. It also served as a reminder that we will die one day too, so we should always try to follow Christ’s example and live good, holy lives so we can reach our eternal reward in Heaven!

So where did the monsters and ghosts come from?

Hundreds of years before the 4th Century and a long way from Rome, the ancient Celts celebrated the festival of Samhain on November 1st as that day marked a pivotal time of year when seasons changed. They believed the boundary between this world and the next became especially thin at this time, enabling them to connect with the dead. This is also where the history of Halloween gains its "haunted" influences. The Celts believed that during the night of November 1st, demons, witches, and evil spirits roamed the earth freely to greet the arrival of “the season”. The demons had their fun with mortals that night, frightening, harming, and even playing all kinds of tricks on them. The only way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape the demons was to offer them things they liked, especially fancy foods and sweets. Or, in order to escape the antics of these demons, a human could disguise themselves as one of them and join in their roaming.

Moving forward in history, when America was first settled the Protestants were the dominant religion and the Catholic tradition of Halloween was seen as a pagan festival that had to be stamped out. Their oppression of the Catholic Tradition of Halloween saw Catholics adopt the non-Catholic ideas derived from other traditions i.e. the early Celts and pretty much due to this persecution, the more modern interpretation of Halloween came about.

Unfortunately, the changes Catholics were forced to make to allow them to hide their practice and still celebrate Halloween also led to some concerning ideas in the contemporary celebration of Halloween. Often now it focuses on violence, horror, and death. While Catholic Halloween did contain some of these elements, it was set in the Christian context of celebrating Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil, and the remembrance of those who have died.

For those of you who love some fun facts, here are some about Halloween.

Dressing up for Halloween comes from the French.

Carving pumpkins comes from the Irish, though they originally used Turnips.

The English went door to door begging for 'Soul Cakes'. They promised to pray for the loved ones who had passed on of those who gave them the cakes.

How can we have a Catholic Halloween next year?

Before or after a fun night of dress-up, trick-or-treating and lots of lollies, explain Halloween and All Saints’ Day to your children! You could even pray the Prayer to St Michael and talk about the Christian meaning of the time.

Halloween should not be a day when Catholicism retreats into the shadows, but when we fill the darkness with Christ’s light, inviting everyone to celebrate the Feast of All Saints with all the excitement and joy we can muster.

Remember, Halloween is a Catholic tradition. Don’t let secular America steal it from us!

(Some content adapted from reflections by Fr Steve Grunow – Word of Fire Catholic Ministry)

Confirmation

We celebrate our Confirmation candidates this weekend at Sunday Mass as they complete their initiation into the Catholic Faith. If you can't make it to 10am Mass please say a prayer for them and their families.

Lord, You send out Your Spirit to touch the hearts of all people, so that they may believe in You and in Jesus whom You sent.

Look kindly on all candidates for Confirmation as they listen to Your voice.

Open their hearts to Your Spirit and bring to fulfilment the good work that You have begun in them.

As we pray for these children for Confirmation, make each of us an instrument of Your love.

Teach us to appreciate what is holy in others, and to be patient with what we do not understand.

Deepen our faith in the Gospel and help us to pass it on by our example. We pray that You will continue to guide us and sustain us.

Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Production

Tickets are available through Operoo (preferably) or by emailing the admin team at admin@sjfrankstoneast.catholic.edu.au for those who cannot access Operoo.

The first round of tickets for the school production, “The Glittering Walls of Troy,” are now available. Tickets are $15 each and are general admission.

At the moment, each family can purchase two tickets to either the Thursday OR Friday night session.

Families can purchase up to 4 tickets for the Friday Matinee session.

The production will be held in the Ngargee Theatre at John Paul College.

Session dates and times

Thursday Evening 28th November 6:30 pm

Friday 29th November Matinee 11:30 am

Friday Finale 29th November 6:30 pm

You will be notified when your tickets are ready to collect from the school office. You can pay with cash or card when you collect your tickets.

Round 1 purchases can be made until Thursday 14th November before we release the second round of tickets.

Picking up children before 3pm

Just a reminder that if you arrive before 3pm to collect your child from school. Please contact the office and we will send your child out to you. We cannot have cars blocking the drive-through before 3pm for OHS reasons if we can help it.

Keep smiling,

Kind regards,

Derek Bruitzman

Principal

Jokes of the week:

Why do you give a sick bird?

A. Tweetment!

Q: What kind of bird loves to work at a construction site?

A: A crane

Q: What do you call a funny chicken?

A: A comedi-hen!

Fun facts of the week:

Australia is wider than the moon.

Sometimes it snows in the Sahara desert.

Love tomato sauce? Well, in the 1800s it was used to heal indigestion and upset tummies.

Nunan House RSPCA Donations