The National Catholic Register portal, the flagship propaganda organ of the EWTN media empire, publishes an article by Debbie Cowden, senior manager for social media at EWTN, aggressively encouraging Catholic families to “confidently celebrate Halloween” under the rebranded label of a “fall triduum” called “Hallowtide.” The piece recommends three modern children’s books — by Anthony DeStefano, Gracie Jagla, and Susan Tassone — which trivialize the solemn vigil of All Saints, the reality of Purgatory, and the communion of saints into “spooky,” “silly,” and “age-appropriate” entertainment, complete with rhymes and illustrations designed to sanitize the pagan-satanic roots of October 31st. This is not a pastoral concession but a deliberate capitulation to the world, baptizing the occult festival of Samhain with a veneer of Catholic terminology to pacify the lax conscience of the conciliar laity.
The Linguistic Engineering of Apostasy: “Hallowtide” as a Neologism of Deception
The article’s foundational deceit lies in its terminology. The author constructs an artificial liturgical unit — a “fall triduum” — comprising “All Hallows’ Eve (Oct. 31), All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2).” This is a fabrication unknown to the immemorial tradition of the Church. The Roman liturgy knows no such “triduum.” The Vigil of All Saints (Vigilia Omnium Sanctorum) is a day of fasting and penance, a preparation for the solemnity, not a standalone feast called “Halloween.” By inventing the term “Hallowtide,” the conciliar apologists create a novus ordo liturgical season ex nihilo, mimicking the authentic Paschal Triduum to confer false legitimacy on a pagan celebration. This is lex orandi, lex credendi inverted: the law of praying is manipulated to legitimize a law of believing that conforms to the world.
The Theological Bankruptcy: Trivializing Death, Judgment, and Purgatory
The three recommended books expose the complete evacuation of the supernatural from the conciliar mindset.
“Although it gives a spooky, suspenseful vibe, it is ultimately a reverent, sobering reminder of the reality of death.”
DeStefano’s book reduces the quattuor novissima — Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell — to a “spooky, suspenseful vibe” for children. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that the thought of death must inspire timor Domini (fear of the Lord), the beginning of wisdom (Ps 110:10), not a “haunting tale” with “charming rhymes.” St. Alphonsus Liguori warns: “He who thinks little of death, thinks little of sin” (Preparation for Death). To present the reality of death and Purgatory as a “mysterious and lighthearted” story is to commit spiritual child abuse, inoculating souls against the metanoia required for salvation.
“The heavenly troupe notices that Halloween, which is supposed to be the sacred Eve of All Saints, has turned into a night of fright, with goblins, ghouls and gore! Will they be able to help Christians reclaim the holy feast?”
Jagla’s premise — that saints “come down from heaven” to “reclaim” Halloween from “goblins, ghouls and gore” — is theological absurdity. Halloween is the feast of goblins, ghouls, and gore; it is the high sabbat of the neo-pagan calendar. The saints do not “reclaim” Satan’s feast; they condemn it. The Council of Trent (Sess. 25, De invocatione sanctorum) teaches the saints reign with Christ and intercede for us; they do not engage in cosmic cosplay to sanitize a Celtic fire festival. The article admits the night has turned into fright — acknowledging the reality — yet proposes a “silly” story as the remedy. This is the hermeneutic of continuity applied to demonology: baptize the error rather than anathematize it.
“It’s never too early to teach children to pray for the dead, and this story eloquently and age-appropriately describes how to do that. It includes an imprimatur, so you can be confident that it shares Church teaching clearly and truthfully.”
The appeal to an imprimatur from the conciliar structures is the ultimate argument from false authority. An imprimatur from a “bishop” of the secta conciliaris guarantees nothing but conformity to the errors of Vatican II. The Code of Canon Law (1917), Canon 1385, required the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur for orthodoxy; today, these are rubber stamps for Modernism. Tassone, the self-styled “Purgatory Lady,” reduces the Communio Sanctorum and the Suffragia pro defunctis to “befriending fellow Catholics” — a horizontal, sociological substitution for the vertical, propitiatory theology of the Mass and indulgences. Lex orandi, lex credendi: the conciliar “Mass” is a communal meal; therefore, their Purgatory is a waiting room for “friends.”
The Symptomatic Level: EWTN as the Propaganda Arm of the Neo-Church
The author’s bio — “senior manager for social media at EWTN,” co-author of The Prayer Book for Tired Parents — reveals the bureaucratic, corporate nature of the conciliar apostolate. EWTN, founded by the charismatic Mother Angelica (herself a product of the post-conciliar chaos), has become the de facto Magisterium for the “conservative” wing of the neo-church. Its function is to police the boundaries of acceptable dissent, allowing “traditional” aesthetics (Latin Mass, veils, saints) while enforcing submission to the antipapas in Rome and the novelties of the Council.
The article’s URL — ncregister.com/blog/halloween-books-for-catholic-families — places it in a “blog,” not a doctrinal organ, signaling its ephemeral, opinion-based character. Yet it functions as de facto pastoral guidance for thousands of families trapped in the conciliar structures. The “newly redesigned EWTNRC.com” is the marketplace where the faithful purchase their spiritual anesthesia.
The Pagan Reality: Non possumus Serve Two Masters
The article’s central thesis — “Is my family allowed to celebrate Halloween? … I’m giving you not just permission, but encouragement” — violates the First Commandment and the Syllabus of Errors (Pius IX, 1864), which condemns the proposition: “Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation” (Error 16). Halloween is the liturgical year of the Devil. Its symbols — witches, ghosts, skeletons, jack-o’-lanterns — are not “secular fun” but signa diaboli, invocations of the powers of darkness. The Church has always forbidden Catholics from participating in pagan festivals. St. Paul commands: “What participation has justice with injustice? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What concord has Christ with Belial?” (2 Cor 6:14-15).
The “Christianization” of Samhain by the institution of All Saints (Nov 1) by Gregory III and its extension by Gregory IV was a supplantation, not an incorporation. The Vigil was a fast day to oppose the pagan revelry. The conciliar church, in its aggiornamento, has reversed this: it now adopts the pagan revelry and calls it “Hallowtide.” This is the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (Matt 24:15) — the liturgical year of the Antichrist imposed upon the ruins of the Catholic calendar.
Conclusion: The Wide Gate and the Broad Way
The article concludes with a call to consumerism: “Parents, godparents and grandparents can get these books, and many more, at the newly redesigned EWTNRC.com.” Mercatores in templo (John 2:16). The conciliar religion is a commodity, tailored to the “tired parents” who want a Catholicism that costs nothing, demands no fasting, no penance, no separation from the world — a Catholicism that lets them keep Halloween, yoga, the Novus Ordo, and the “pope,” all while feeling “confident” and “at peace.”
“Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matt 7:13-14). The “Hallowtide” of the Register is the wide gate. The true Catholic observes the Vigil of All Saints in fasting and prayer, rejects the pagan feast entirely, and teaches his children to fear God, not goblins — knowing that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31).
Source:
Catholic Parents Can Confidently Celebrate Halloween Thanks to These 3 Books (ncregister.com)
Date: 26.10.2026