The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart is one of my favorite feast days all year. I love celebrating Jesus' passionate love for us, His heart ablaze with His love and the signs of His Passion on display. The image of Christ holding or pointing to His Heart, showing us the mini Gospel - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." - it is so perfectly quirky Catholic and I love it.
This year our celebration lasted all day. The Solemnity is a Meat Friday so we ate bacon and then headed to noon Mass at the local, gorgeous, Sacred Heart Church, as is our custom. More bacon for lunch and then it was time for party prep - a group of friends were coming over for dinner!
We don't have an image of the Sacred Heart so I drew one on the chalkboard that hangs in a prominent spot in our home.
It's not bad.
Then I followed in Mary's footsteps and made fruit trays like the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, seen at her blog, Better Than Eden. I made mine a bit more simply because I didn't peel an orange, just opened a can of mandarin oranges, and I sprinkled chocolate chips on the strawberries instead of melting chocolate.
To keep things easy on everyone we made the night a potluck. Everyone brought their own meat, a dish to pass, and their own drink of choice. Travis manned the grill and the kids jumped on the trampoline, played on our swingset, and climbed our Maple tree.
As the sun was setting but before a single meltdown I called all the kids to the patio. Each parent got a prayer card and each person was given a glow stick. I stood in front of the kids and talked to them about the reason for our party, about God's great love for us, about the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I invited them to snap their glow sticks and to wave them and wear them as a reminder of Jesus' Heart that burns for love of us.
Then as a group we all prayed the Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (If you ever have a Sacred Heart party please feel free to use the image! You can save it, insert it into a Word or Publisher Doc. Set the paper to Landscape and you can easily fit two per page.)
The kids ran off into the dusk, catching fireflies and we parents stayed in our comfy chairs, sipping rum or beer and chatting with one another. That sounds super saccharine-y so please know that about ten minutes later I spilled my drink on my lap. ha!
It was a great day, and I'm so grateful for my group of friends and for my husband who doesn't bat an eye when I say, "Let's have ten adults and twenty kids over and you can grill them all dinner!"
Another one came in the mail yesterday. It was our third.
A postcard with a cool graphic and non religious-y buzz words.
"Modern"
"Elevate"
"High Energy"
"Dynamic Videos"
"Engaging Music"
One's goal is to be "the funnest place on Earth." Another promotes it's subwoofers and media.
So if that's what you're wanting, those places are there for you.
But I'm going to ask you a question, the same question that was asked of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb on the very first Easter Sunday. "Who are you looking for?" (John 20:15) And along with that question I ask you, "What are you looking for?"
Are you looking for Christ? Are you looking for the Church He founded? Are you looking for Truth? Are you looking for answers to questions like "What is the purpose of life?" and "Why do we suffer?" Are you looking for an encounter with the Creator, the Savior, the Holy Spirit?
Are you looking to be entertained? Or are you looking for God?
If you are looking for God, He is waiting for you in the tabernacle at your local Catholic Church.
Jesus Christ told us that He was the manna sent down from Heaven and unless we ate His Flesh and drank His Blood we would not have life within us. (John 6: 43, 53) We believe that on Holy Thursday Christ fulfilled those words by instituting the Eucharist (the consecrated Host) at the Last Supper. We believe that on Good Friday Jesus the Nazarene suffered and died by crucifixion, a punishment He took on to save us from our sins. We believe that on Easter Sunday Christ rose from the dead, conquering death and sin. We believe that Jesus established a Church and that Church still exists today. (Matthew 16:18-19)
I invite you to join Catholics around the world this Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Experience the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. He loves you and He is waiting to have a personal encounter with you through the grace-filled Sacraments of the Catholic Church. If you are looking for God this is where He is.
I don't have a bunch of buzz words to throw at you about how awesome your experience will be at Mass. In fact, depending on your local parish the music may be horrible, the architecture ugly, and the preaching uninspiring. But that doesn't change the fact that God is waiting for you in the tabernacle. His grace is waiting for you in the Sacraments.
If you are looking to be entertained, well, go ahead and attend one of those other churches. But if you are looking for God and Truth and His Church then come home to the Catholic Church.
Recently I have had several conversations with people about tithing. Several women shared that they are convicted to tithe a full 10% of their money, first thing, and they have seen time and time again that God has been generous back to them. Another friend confided that every time she does not give from the top of her paycheck something ridiculous always happens so that she has even less money.
Now, after I wrote the Financial Hardships and Surprise Pregnancies series, where I revealed that we do not tithe 10% monetarily several things happened:
- We received notice that our mortgage was going up each month because of escrow.
- I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, throwing a wrench into our meal plan and grocery budget.
- My husband had to cancel a dental appointment because we couldn't afford the work.
However:
- Someone sent us $200, which we are putting towards the dental work and Christmas presents. (Thank you!)
- Someone else sent me a whole box of chai tea concentrate (which I have to drink in major moderation now but once the baby comes and the diabetes clears up I will be freely enjoying). (And thank you!)
- Someone else sent us a $100 gift card that we can put towards groceries. (And thank you, too!)
Maybe we were given new difficulties because we don't tithe 10% of our paychecks but I don't think that's how God works - at least not in our lives. I mean, at the exact same time, look at the ways He was inspiring the Body of Christ to be generous! Look at the ways He came through for us!
BUT, I do trust those women in what they said. I do believe that that's how God works in their lives.
This was probably already made pretty darn clear in the FH&SP series, but being this poor can be incredibly humiliating at times. But like I also said in the series I really do think that these are the sufferings and sacrifices God has given to us. They're not going to look exactly like yours nor will yours look like mine. I wholeheartedly believe that God works differently in each of our lives according to what we need for sanctification. Maybe that friend of mine needs to be stripped of her love of money and needs to learn to submit to and trust in God. Or maybe that's not it at all - I'm just guessing to illustrate here.
But for me, I think I need to be stripped of my pride. I need to learn to put others first. I need to love God above my husband. At least that's what I've figured out so far, I'm sure there's lots more to unearth. Right now my heaviest crosses are the financial worry, the physical toll all the pregnancies have taken on my body, and the fact that natural family planning in my marriage will be nothing more than complete abstinence for several (many?) years. So I guess I need to work on chastity, too, probably.
Are these things fun? Uh, no. Are they easy? Nope, usually not and especially not at first. But these crosses are mine and it's time to stop pretending like I should have what other people have (like savings accounts and normal fertility) because that's not what I need right now to grow in holiness.
A recent article posted at Aleteia says with a great deal of charity and compassion for people just like me, "It can’t be acceptable, from the Catholic point of view, that the marital act is so strictly bound by economic status that husbands and wives can enjoy the divine gift of sexual union only if they can afford the result. The Catholic teaching is not for the middle and upper classes alone."
Do you know what I thought when I read that? "I appreciate what you're saying, but don't take this away from me." If this is my cross, if this is the means that God has chosen to sanctify me then please don't take it way. Don't find an easy out option for me. I don't need a loophole; I need grace.
I need the grace to turn to God in prayer. I need grace to not believe the lie that my husband doesn't love me just because we can't be intimate. I need grace to do what I need to do to heal and strengthen my body. I need the grace to stop worrying about how dingy and shabby the carpet, bathrooms, living room furniture, and kitchen cabinets look and start being grateful. As my Ugandan priest told me, materialism is one of the greatest weaknesses of Catholics in America. My bathrooms may be dated, small, and ugly but I have two of them, with hot running water, and they're air conditioned.
As an aside, if you want to feel like an ungrateful jerk, try confessing your jealousy of everyone else's shiny swagger wagons to a man who as a boy had to hide in the fields of a banana plantation, ended up being bitten everywhere by fire ants but couldn't move because otherwise he'd be killed or kidnapped by the soldiers who had arrived at his home during a civil war.
So materialism, jealousy, ungratefulness - yes I need to work on those things, too. And because of the lot in life that God has given me I can work on them. This vocation - my husband, my kids, my home - this is the path before me and the Good Shepherd is leading me so I fear no evil. The trick is to only remember that His rod and staff are there to guide and save me, not to punish me. Your path may look a bit different than mine - your verdant pastures may have different consolations and there may be different rocks and brambles along your way - but I trust that's how it should be.
The Kind of Love my shepherd is whose goodness fails me never; I nothing lack if I am His and He is mine forever... And so through all the length of days Thy goodness fails me never. Good Shepherd may I sing Thy praise within Thy house forever.
This week I will be running a very small series responding to several people’s request that I write about having a large family while not having a lot of money.
I know that sharing specifics about personal budgets and finance is considered bad form but, after discussing it with my husband, I’m going to share some of those personal details. Some of what I’ll be sharing is, for me, very personal and I know we are opening ourselves up to judgement and critique and possibly ridicule by sharing these things.
However, I’m doing this in the hope that it may help a couple who is struggling with the decision of whether or not to expand their family, or one who has been surprised to learn that their family is expanding. I’m also hoping that it may be helpful for a family who is struggling financially; maybe part of our family’s system will help them. Or at least I always think it is nice to know I’m not alone in my particular hardship. Because I am writing the coming posts from a place of great vulnerability I don’t want to fill the posts with clarifications and asides, I just want to share about my specific family and our specific situation. I hope it is understood by everyone that I do not believe (nor does the Church teach) that large families are “more Catholic” than small families. And I wholeheartedly believe that not everyone is called to have a big family - there are legitimate reasons to space or be completely done having children. I also know there’s a big difference between having zero, one, or two kids and having nice things and having zero, one, or two kids so you can have nice things. Again, I am talking about my family and our ways - not commenting on anyone else’s. I also hope no one will make comments about my husband’s and my decision to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church and not contracept. We firmly believe, and think science makes obvious, that life begins at conception, that we were wonderfully and fearfully made, and that God asks sex to be open to life. (You can read more about those teachings here if you’d like.) Finally, I want to say that Yes, we are living this life because it’s the life we’ve chosen. We chose to take out student loans. We chose to pay for things with a credit card. We chose to not contracept or abort any of our babies. Travis chose to go into teaching and I chose to be a stay at home mom (Although daycare for five kids? It wouldn’t even be worth it for me to work!) We have chosen to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. We have chosen to make these sacrifices because we believe that in the end, no matter how hard things may be now (and how hard it is for even us to see it), it is worth it. It’s worth it to choose life. It is worthwhile to choose life over death, over the impossibility of more life, or over things and experiences. And it is worth it because life is worth living.
The news does not surprise me any more, nor does the state of our culture.
I believe, for me, the turning point was when ISIS beheaded those twenty-one Coptic Christians on a lake's shore, filmed it, put it online, and only some people gave a damn.
I cried for days about that. I cried because of the barbarism, the terror of it, the faith of those men who called out "Ya Rabbi Yasou," and the feeling that the terrorists really weren't that far away any more.
When most people don't care about twenty-one people being beheaded because of of their beliefs in 2015, how can we still be surprised by anything else?
The Little Sisters of the Poor are being forced by the government to buy people's contraception despite the fact that contraception goes against their core beliefs. Disappointing, but not surprising.
The Supreme Court decided that all fifty states must have gay marriage. I would have been surprised had the ruling gone the other way - in favor of states' rights or at least with built-in protection for religious groups.
None of it surprises me any more. Am I saddened? Yes. Am I jaded? I don't really think so. Am I worried? Yes, worried about possible coming persecutions, government regulations, and what that will mean for my children.
As an orthodox Catholic my definition of the basic rights our country was founded on are very, very different than most of the American culture's. To many of my peers, politicians, and the media, Life is a right only if the mother or caretakers believes the person is convenient and not a burden. Liberty is being able to do whatever I want to do and no one can judge me. The Pursuit of Happiness is the doing of whatever I want - whatever will make me happy right. now.
As a Catholic, Life is a precious gift and lasts from the moment of conception to death. Liberty is not the license to do whatever one wants but the freedom to do what we ought. And the Pursuit of Happiness is all about living a joyful life filled with meaning that is focused on God and looks forward to Eternity.
I know Jenny wishes we would rise up and fight though she feels the same as I do, but I wonder if that time has passed. Maybe now is the time, not for revolutions, but for churches to only perform religious ceremonies and courthouses to perform legal ones, for families and parishes to huddle together to build up and preserve the Faith, and if it comes to it, a time for civil disobedience.
In this culture where lewd behavior is celebrated and trending right now on social media, where people misuse words to the point of redefining them (words like "love," "bigot," and "tolerance"), where many of my fellow parishioners support abortion, divorce, contraception, women priests and scoff at the idea of mortal sin and the True Presence - well I'm wondering if the current is just too strong.
We cannot fight this culture any more. We need to stop pretending that America is a Christian country and we need to stop pretending that Christians are united in our teachings on morality. It is not and we are not.
We are supposed to be loving, serving, and passing on the faith. What that may look like in the coming years, I do not know. Will the Church go underground? Will there be a schismatic American Catholic Church? Will there be persecution for faithful Catholics? Maybe. Maybe not.
What I hope happens is that this is the beginning of a renaissance.
May the Lord be with us all. +
This isn't the first time I've written about some of these things. Here's some related posts:
On St. Lucy's feast day (December 13th) I baked Santa Lucia rolls for breakfast. We lit all the candles in the dining room, including the ones on our Advent wreath, and plugged in the twinkle lights that are part of my mantel's decorations.
I talked to the kids about St. Lucy, whose name means "light." I told them about the young Italian woman who was killed because she would not break a promise she had made to Jesus. I explained that in the Scandinavian countries, like Sweden - where my husband's ancestors are from - it is very, very dark in the winter and so they have always had a special love for the Saint of Light. I told them that in Sweden the families would all be eating Santa Lucia rolls for breakfast, just like us, in honor of St. Lucy. We discussed how St. Lucy's light reminds us of the Light of the World: Jesus Christ.
Then L, remembering a lesson from her religion class, said, "She was the one who lost her eyes. Who took out her eyes?"
Ben was never more fascinated. "Her EYES?! Someone took out her EYES?!!!"
I tried to explain about torture, about martyrdom.
He held the roll called the Christmas boar up to his eyes. "That would hurt! She couldn't see!" He's a five year old boy. "Her eyes!!!!??? .... .... .... .... ew."
Later that day we chopped down our Christmas tree. After we brought it home and set it up in the living room I put in The Nativity Storyto play in the background while we hung the ornaments.
Ben looked at Mary, talking to the angel. "Is that the girl who loses her eyes?"
"No, Ben. That's Mary, Jesus' mom. St. Lucy is the one who lost her eyes but that didn't happen until years later."
A bit later he looks up at Mary and Elizabeth. "Is this when she loses her eyes?"
"No, Ben. That's Mary, Jesus' mom. She never lost her eyes. You're thinking about St. Lucy but she's not in this movie."
In the ever-loving stable, Mary has just given birth to the Savior of the world and Ben looks at the movie and says, "When is she gonna lose her eyes?"
This post include affiliate links, which means if you shop Amazon by clicking through from my site I will make a teeny tiny bit of money, at no cost to you.
Recently, we decided that our children will attend public high school. We’d been discerning diligently for the past 7-8 months, but the hope of providing Catholic high school education to our children had been on our minds for even longer than that. There were many things we considered as we discerned. I’ve been able to compartmentalize them into three main categories: the expense; the extra-curricular opportunities (sports, clubs, etc); and the
environment (Catholic and otherwise). Our comfort levels with different aspects of all of those were based on our experiences. Craig attended Catholic school all the way through high school. I attended Catholic school from grades 1 through 8. After that, I attended public high school.
For the purposes of this post, I am going to focus on the financial expense of providing a Catholic high school education. It seems, unfortunately, that Catholic high schools in most of our country have gone the way of being “Private Schools with Mass.” The tuition to attend the Catholic high school in my area is pretty close to what it costs to attend any other private high school in our city. It might be a little less expensive (by $1000-2000) but when you’re talking $10-12,000 per year, that’s not that much of a discount. Many families like mine - those who have accepted alarger-than-average amount of children, often expand the family beyond theability to provide Catholic education through high school. I’m not even going
to touch the college expense. My kids will know from the get-go that paying for college will be largely on them.
To hear many Church leaders (Priests, Bishops, etc) speak, you would think that the Catholic Church wants to provide a Catholic education to anyone who wants it. And I do think the desire is there. The problem is that a Catholic education is exclusive to those who can afford it, and sadly, many families cannot justify $10,000+/year tuition for four years for each kid in high school for a family the size of mine. I also know of families smaller than mine, for whom the Catholic education is out of reach. I know of families larger than mine that make it work, too. I think that’s great and God has blessed them abundantly for their sacrifice.
Our diocese is building a new Catholic high school about an hour southeast of where I live. I signed up to contribute to this effort. I made a 3-year-commitment of 1% of our take-home pay for this campaign. At the time, we were still thinking that our kids could perhaps attend Catholic high school. But now that the decision has been made to send them to public school, I can’t help but note the irony that I am helping pay for a new Catholic high school to which I can’t even afford to send my kids.
There has been much said to me and around me about the financial assistance available for Catholic high school, but the reality of the matter seems to be that there just isn’t that much to go around to everyone who needs it. Even if the first year was made doable, the following years could crush us financially, and once your kid has started going somewhere for high school, you really don’t want to move them, so we’d be stuck if we started…at least for our oldest. I’ve heard that endowments for the private schools in our city are much bigger than what is available at the local Catholic high school, which only puts added pressure on the finances (of both school and families).
One of the most familiar commentaries I have heard from older parishioners who have already put their children through Catholic high school is that it was worth the sacrifice. I have no doubt that if I were able to sacrifice a reasonable amount without hurting my family in the process, I
would also find the sacrifice to be worth it, edifying even. I understand that the people who encourage me to send my children to Catholic high school and “trust God” and that “it is all worth the sacrifice” mean well. For them, the sacrifice was doable. I don’t know what most people make, what their financial commitments are outside of Catholic high school tuition and all that stuff. Therefore, I can’t give an opinion on whether the sacrifice they made and what would be required of me would be similar or not. I can only speak to our situation and believe me when I tell you that the amount of money I was putting away simply for Catholic High school was preventing Club volleyball, guitar lessons, ballet, among other activities that I had wanted to provide my kids. I was looking down the road and seeing 16 years of nothing outside of school-related activities and tuition in the budget and I was getting down about not being able to provide some experiences for my kids that I think are important to their growth.
An additional consideration for a family like mine might be that we’d be able to provide Catholic high school for one, but not all of our children. Saving the money I was to put towards tuition - for as long as I was looking at having to do that - was putting our family into a delicate position should a job loss occur or any instance that could happen causing either my husband or me to be without an income for any period of time. I’m talking - beyond the emergency savings - how could we continue to provide this if some tragedy befell our family? And even if no tragedy befell us, but life happened and the amount we’d saved couldn’t measure up to what was required - what if we faced the possibility that our children could not continue at the Catholic high school and we provided for one and couldn’t provide for all? Plus we have
spaced our children to the extent that we will be paying for preschool for our youngest during our oldest child’s first two years of high school. Preschool is a necessity for us as it doubles as our childcare; our daily childcare expense won’t diminish until our youngest enters Kindergarten.
The balance in these things is critical in our relationship as a family, I think. Rather than face the insecurity of being unable to provide this for all five of our living children, it seemed the more prudent approach to continue to save the money knowing it could help provide things like Club volleyball, Swim team, music lessons, tennis lessons, and other extra-curricular activities that will provide value down the line. It seems
more prudent knowing that money will be available to buy a new-to-us car if the
time comes, without taking on the burden of payments. Perhaps we will pre-pay
preschool tuition to get a discount. Perhaps the next round of orthodontic
treatment won’t be such a hassle.
Once the decision was made, a huge load was lifted from my
chest. Yes, sadness prevailed for a little bit. It’s hard to admit that you
can’t provide your kids with their desires. And the disappointment in the fact
that the Catholic Church can’t fulfill her desire to educate all those who
would want to come to a Catholic school is still there.
Did the Catholic Church intend to go down this route? I
doubt it. The reality of the situation is that Catholic schools are no longer
run by Religious (nuns or priests). Paying competitive salaries (and benefits!)
for laypeople as teachers and administrators has driven the cost to the point
that it is difficult to see a difference between a Catholic school and a
private school. The main difference being that at a Catholic school, religion
class is a requirement, a chapel/place for daily prayer is available and Mass
happens on at least a semi-regular basis. Add to that the fact that Catholics
in this country do not support the Church to the level required to provide a
Catholic education to all. And - to be fair - most Catholics who are paying
tuition to the rate of $10,000/year/kid feel the obligation to pay that and
probably believe this IS their financial support for the Church. I know that if
I were to pay tuition for Catholic high school, my “first fruits” contribution
would most likely have to diminish to cover the cost. Obviously, that’s
backwards because it turns my “first fruits” contribution into something else.
I do think something should be figured out. I think there is
something wrong when a Church encourages the faithful to be generous an
embrace new life into their marriages, but then shuts the door on those
families when it comes to education. I know parents are the primary educators
of children. Parents should not drop the kids off at the door of the Catholic
school expecting all the magic to happen there, and at the end of 12 years,
POOF! a well-formed Catholic with brains to match magically appears. But I also
recognize my Church’s call to support Catholic education in all ways, including
financial. A little more financial support as well as a bit of emotional and spiritual support from the Church with regard to this issue would be most
appreciated.
Michelle is a Catholic, wife and work-outside-the-home mom five children on earth (+1 in heaven). She enjoys exercising (especially Crossfit), reading (especially thriller/mystery type novels), playing with the kids and an occasional date night with her husband, particularly those which include a Margarita. She enjoys blogging (in her "free" time) at Endless Strengthabout daily life, Catholic and motherly reflections, and weight loss. You can follow her on Instagram or Twitter (both handles are @michellephughes) or "Like" her Endless Strength Facebook page.
1 - I heard this song for the first time last weekend. We were all in the van and Travis turned it up while telling me how he liked the song. With the first "Sail" I heard I thought he was saying "Sale" and so I started calling out things like "Buy One Get One!" and "Memorial Day" right before "Sail!". "Fifty percent off!" "Sail!"
chuckle chuckle snort snort. I crack myself up.
2 - L got Resa out of her crib the other morning and then came up to me.
"Mommy, feel Resa's face. It's so fluffy!"
She's pretty much right, too, ya know. I just love, love, love, love baby and toddler skin. It's so tight and smooth and covering a sweet, plumpy adorableness. It's just so fluffy.
3 - Did you hear about Brandon Vogt? Basically one of the most awesome Catholics today - Fr. Robert Barron - decided that Brandon is so excellent that he needs to be working for him. And so now Brandon is. How cool is that?!
And way to go, Brandon! Congrats on your new job with Word on Fire and God bless you and the whole team on all the good work you do!
4 - A few nights ago I had a dream that I was Jennifer Fulwiler's personal assistant. She had become super famous and I think a movie was being made about her book. We needed to order posters to advertise the movie and she told me to get three million. Then Grace Patton called and I took a message because Jen was super busy. When I delivered the message I was scolded because Jennifer will always take a call from Grace and I should always put her through.
For the record, I've spoken with Jen on the phone, exchanged emails with her, and spent time with her in person. She's not a demanding jerk at all so I don't know why I dreamed her that way but it was pretty funny, especially the part about Grace so I just had to share.
I hope you're laughing, Mrs. Fulwiler, ma'am.
5 - There's a lot of conversation going on right now about Halloween. Should we trick-or-treat as saints, as whatever, as whatever but within reason, or not at all. I'm pretty sure that how I feel about it as the mother of small children is slightly different than how I'll feel about it as the mother of teens and preteens but for what it's worth my kids will be pirates and fairies and animals for trick or treating and then saints for the All Saints' party at our church. I'm okay with spooky but not scary, again because of the ages of my kids, and I think there is a lot of evil tied up with Halloween. But I think there's a lot of good in it too, especially when its married to All Saints and All Souls days
So all that to say, I made asked my super talented friend to make a little catechetical coloring book for me to use at the parish Halloween / All Saints' party I'm organizing. We brainstormed together, she drew all the pictures and assembled the book, I proofed it and made some more suggestions, she didn't wring my neck, and now we have an awesome coloring book that you can use too - for free!
Isn't that GREAT?!! You can go to Katie's blog, Look to Him and Be Radiant, for more coloring pages and the whole book! (Plus tons of other great stuff for teens, pre-teens, and kids.)
6 - I really love Deme's blog and I'm enjoying following along with her House For Five's 31 Days of Moving. If you like looking at remodeling before and after pictures you should check it out for sure! Deme is so creative and does a lot of her stuff on a small budget - which I can appreciate.
7 - If you missed my newest video on liturgical living you can find it here. (It's about Mary.) Maybe I should name the videos - like it's a show. Got any ideas? I meant it when I said I'm not always very creative and so I have to look to other people, like Katie in #5.
I was in charge of organizing and hosting my parish's All Saints' Day / Halloween / All Hallow's Eve party and let me tell you something: it was so much fun! This post is filled with all kinds of ideas that helped me and my fellow volunteers throw a great party. Be sure to watch my Knot Bad Video for some ideas that aren't discussed below. And if you've any great ideas for celebrating All Hallow's Eve I'd love to read them in the comment box!
Menu possibilities:
At my parish's party we'll be doing the more kid friendly versions of the food below but the gorier options may be more interesting for teens and adults. Many thanks to my friend, Katie, who helped me brainstorm these ideas.
St. Elizabeth of Hungry's sandwiches OR St. Agatha's sandwiches
St.s Perpetua and
Felicity’s Coliseum animal crackers OR St. Francis' animal crackers
St. Lucy’s eyes could use grapes, olives, or the chocolate candies wrapped in foil that looks like eyeballs
St. Joan of Arc's flaming Doritos
St. Isadore’s salsa and chips
St.
Luke’s relics made from pretzel sticks & mini marshmallows dipped in white choc (St. Luke's is the name of our parish - you could use your parish or just call them relics.)
St. Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions' fortune cookies
St. Lawrence’s grill - waffle pretzels
St. Nicholas' pickles
St. Stephen’s stones - could use Nerds, donut holes, grapes, cake balls, rock candy, or even brown MnM's.
Holy Ghost - cookies, rice krispie treats, Peeps, or any other ghost-shaped treat
Drinks - Blessed Mother “they have no wine” water bottles
I'll also be serving popcorn in a cauldron from some real "kettle corn", clementines with jack o' lantern faces, and lemonade.
The ad that ran in our bulletin
Games:
Now I must confess that I didn't think of any of these games. All of them were created by two wonderful women from my parish. We like to have the games set up in stations throughout our parish hall, manned by the confirmation students.
Pin the Crown on Mary
Hang a picture of Mary on a wall, blindfold the kids, spin them around, and give them a picture of a crown with tape on the back. St. Michael Halo Toss
Line up cones with pictures of angels taped to the front and give kids rings to toss. Rings can be pool toys, glow sticks, or embroidery hoops wrapped in a shimmery, golden ribbon. St. Lucy's Blindman's Bluff
Place objects like a crucifix, statue of a saint, rosary, etc in empty kleenex boxes. Blindfold the kids and have them guess the objects based on what they feel. St. Therese's Shower of Roses
Fasten together small bunches of fake roses to toss into a series of buckets. St. Francis' Animal Search
Gather old beanie babies or other stuffed animals and hide them throughout the room or house. Have the kids find them and bring them to a statue or other image of St. Francis. St. James and St. John's Fishing Hole
Make up small baggies of Goldfish crackers and/or Swedish Fish. Punch a hole in one corner of each bag and hoop a pipe cleaner through it, making a large circle. Make a simple cane pole with a stick, string, and a large paper clip attached at the end and bent to form a hook. Kids can hook the baggies that are in a kiddie pool or laying on a blue blanket. St. Anthony's Lost and Found
Blindfold the kids and have them search through containers for uncooked rice, beans, noodles, etc for objects like rings, keys, or coins.
You wouldn't have a Christmas party without a tree, red and green, and St. Nicholas or an Easter party without eggs, baskets, and spring flowers and so we won't be having an All Saints' party without pumpkins and other decorations. Here's some of my ideas:
Pumpkins, corn stalk bunches, straw bales, mums, and gourds. Traditional fall decorations definitely help set the scene and give a festive feel. If you're having your party on All Saints' Day you may be able to get free pumpkins and such from a local pumpkin patch and list them as a sponsor in your bulletin and posters. You can also get discounted pumpkins and other decorations if you buy the day of Halloween or the day after but you run the risk of not having a good variety.
Food and Candy. Dishes of candy corn or other Halloween themed candy can be the centerpieces at the tables. And your buffet can and should be a centerpiece of the room. Serve the food in clear, white, or Halloween-ish colored dishes on a black tablecloth and they'll seem festive, too. Also, be sure to label the food, possibly using a holy card of the saint with the label.
Color & Light
I love using plastic tablecloths and white lights to create a theme and ambiance. Purple, green, orange, and black tablecloths can cover tables and hang on walls to cover unsightly sights, bring attention to a special area, or just add color. The plastic tablecloths can be found in the party section of Wal-Mart and cost less than $1. You can cut them to fit a variety of spaces and because they're light they're easy to hang on walls or from the ceiling.. I'll be halving them for our round tables and then cutting strips for table runners so an orange covered table will have a stripe of purple, black, or green to add more color. I'll also be hanging some black ones around a stage area to create a backdrop in the "cemetery" where the kids will explain which saint they are dressed as. I'll use the white lights in this area, perhaps as a night sky or just snaked around the tombstones (mentioned in the above video) and pumpkins I'll be using in this area.
Saints
This day is really all about them so show them off! Icons, statues, holy cards, and other pictures can be placed throughout the room. Nestle them by pumpkins, place them on the centers of the tables, include their pictures on the signs labeling the food and games, and hang them on the doors and walls.
Costume Ideas
Several of the websites below have lots of good ideas for costumes but the thing I want to stress is that not everyone needs to be in traditional garb. I think dressing in the spirit of saint is also appropriate. For example:
A blurry, sugar-filled St. Joseph and a happy St. Mary
St. Damien - a Hawaiian shirt with a purple ribbon around the neck like a confessor's stole
St. Joseph - a brown shirt, jeans, and a play toolbox
St. Michael - soldier, firefighter, or police officer costume, perhaps with a pair of wings
St. James or St. John - fishing pole, perhaps with a cardboard box boat hanging from their shoulders
St Isadore - farmer outfit
St. Mark - lion costume
St. Luke - artist
Structure for the party Kids like structure and thrive with it but a party should still be fun and not too rigid. With that in mind our evening will run a little like this:
-Allow people to gather and invite them to sit.
-Do a quick intro talking about the Jack O'Lantern - it explains salvation, God's love for us, redemptive suffering, and ends with roasted pumpkin seeds and dinner! (watch the above video for more ideas)
-Pray and eat.
-Invite the "saints" to take the stage and explain who they are dressed up as. We'll end this portion by praying the Litany of the Saints, including the names of the saints who are represented by the children.
-Open up the games.
-Families can then leave as needed / once their kids have played all the games.
Other websites with good ideas and thoughts on a Catholic All Hallow's Eve:
Catholic Icing Catholic Cuisine
Catholic All Year Taylor Marshall's Top Ten Ways to Have a Catholic Halloween
Halloween in Our Catholic Home, an article I wrote for Ignitum Today several years ago My Pinterest Halloween Party board
