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Hello and welcome to NOLA Catholic Parenting podcasts. NOLA Catholic Parenting podcasts are a natural progression of our weekly column in the Clarion Herald and our three-times-a week blog written by Catholic moms and dads who are raising their children in our faith. The podcasts will share our thoughts, experiences and challenges as Catholic parents every other week at nolacatholicparenting.org and clarionherald.org. Thanks for listening. If you have a topic you would like covered, please email nolacatholicparenting@clarionherald.org.

Oct 29, 2019

Episode 3:
In this episode Christine Bordelon talks to NOLA Catholic Parenting columnists and bloggers Sarah McDonald, Kim Roberts and Gaby Smith about the ways in which their families celebrate Halloween with more of a Catholic faith focus on the “saints” and All Saints Day as opposed to the gore and secular version of Halloween.

:45 into podcast: Sarah McDonald ‘s pastor as a child was conservative and Halloween wasn’t allowed in her Catholic elementary school. In that vein, she says she dresses her children in saints costumes and finds it gratifying to see the saints ‘celebrations at schools all over the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

1:13 Gaby’s son can’t wait to dress up in his saint’s costume.

1:38 Ana Borden says Halloween and All Saints Day are times when the family can do art projects to make their costume their own as they learn about saints. Her son designed his shield when he was St. Michael.

1:55 Sarah and others laugh about how they repurpose the same costume to reflect the different saints. “It’s fun to see all the Marys.” She said she has saints ‘names as her children’s middle names and tries to teach them about their saint and even dress as that saint.

2:55 Christine says she looked up Halloween on the internet and found out it has no connection to the occult or satanism.

3:30 Sarah says she tries to take the focus off of the gore of Halloween and refocuses the celebration. Her family prays the St. Michael the Archangel prayer before they go trick-or-treating as a protection against evil spirit.

4:25 Ana said her neighborhood generally has a party and they cook rice and beans and enjoy conversation.

4:47 Gaby and her son trunk-or-treat at school and usually attend a low-key Halloween party

5:15 Sarah said trunk-or-treat provides a sense of community and safety and has found that many parishes are now doing this.