This coming weekend is shaping up to be a saintly one with lots of soul! This Saturday, November 1, is All Saints Day. Normally, All Saints Day is a holy day of obligation, however, since it falls on a Saturday this year, that obligation is lifted in the United States and some other countries. This Sunday, November 2, is All Souls Day.
Don’t forget to take advantage of some free resources for both of these important days in our church calendar:
What creative things are YOU doing this year to help your students prepare for and enter more deeply into these days?
Well, tonight I observed children yelling, screaming, running in the hallways dressed as devils and goblins. Oh, many had cake or cookies too.
I was teaching my kids about the Communion of Saints, praying the rosary with them and finally, watching the first fifteen minutes of “The 13th Day,” the excellent movie about Fatima.
I guess I’m an orthodox, stick in the mud Catholic!
Pray for me, me thinks I’m outnumbered at my parish…
DJ, I don’t think it’s a matter of being a stick-in-the-mud at all. Time is so precious in RE programs it should not be wasted with Halloween parties which can happen at other times and in other venues. RE time is for encountering Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thanks Joe.
Perhaps not “stick in the mud” but still outnumbered. Unfortunately, I am surrounded by folks who teach that no one goes to hell and that having an encounter with Our Lord is secondary to just “being nice.” Aren’t these heresies?
You should have seen the faces at the catechist meeting, when I suggested that low mass attendance, RE absences, etc. are all the result of people never having encountered Christ! (crickets…..) ;(
Have a blessed week sir!
Hi,
One of my nephew asked me why there are less women saints in the catholic calendar. He did a statistics and found out that there are approx. 3 men saints for 1 woman saint – he has pretty good math skills.
He used a couple of calendars for his research from late 1990s and beginning of 2000s.
His conclusion was that women are more sinners than men.
I was at loss. My husband could not explain, either.
Any help for his young boy, please ?
Hi Jenny and thanks for sharing this problem. Certainly, it is NOT because women are more sinful than men. The major reason is that until recent times, society was heavily patriarchal and women’s roles were relegated for the most part to domestic life (family and home). Men had the more public roles and for that reason were in prominent positions of leadership in the Christian community. The holiness of many of these men was more visible than the holiness of most women who served in the home. Needless to say, an all-male clergy/hierarchy also greatly contributed to this imbalance since clergy and religious far outnumber lay people in the roster of saints. Since the establishment of women’s religious orders in the last millennium, more and more women have become saints. In recent years, popes have been canonizing many more lay people, including many women, whose lives of holiness often do not receive the same notoriety as those of the clergy or religious. I hope this is helpful.