It was a dark and spooky Monday night at Hoover 215 as the Catholic Newman Club held their weekly meeting. The theme this week — just in time for Halloween — was the paranormal. A YouTube video of a crackling campfire set the scene as the club members discussed their personal experiences with the supernatural.
From angels to ghosts, club members had plenty of stories to share. Newman Club President Meghan Donohue shared the story Fr. Dave told her of the unexplainable footsteps in the rectory. Luckily for Fr. Steve, the current campus priest, the strange noises have ceased. Other students had less spooky stories to tell. Some experienced an angel’s guidance and protection, while others received signs from deceased loved ones.
“I thought it was interesting,” said first-year Rose Ousey. “I liked hearing everyone’s different stories about angels or deceased loved ones.”
Luckily for some, Karen Bruskewicz, director of Catholic campus ministry, withheld her spine-chilling tales of growing up in a haunted house.
“I appreciated that they stopped with the really scary stories since there were some sensitive people there,” Ousey said.
There is no definitive teaching from the Catholic Church about ghosts. Some believe that ghosts are the spirits of the deceased who have not yet reached heaven, but are waiting in purgatory. According to Catholic teaching, purgatory is a place of repentance where the souls of the deceased must go through a purification process before they can enter heaven.
Of course, not everyone has to go to purgatory. Those who go straight to heaven after death are called saints. The Catholic Church recognizes these saints at the All Saints’ Day Mass, which always falls on Nov. 1, the day after Halloween. The name “Halloween” comes from the phrase “All Hallows’ Eve,” which is what Halloween literally is — the night before All Saints’ (“Hallows”) Day. This day is usually a holy day of obligation for Catholics, meaning they are obliged to attend Mass that day. However, since Nov. 1 falls on a Saturday this year, the obligation has been waived.
Nov. 2 is All Souls’ Day, on which we pray for all the deceased. According to Catholic belief, we can help the souls in purgatory reach heaven by praying for them. Perhaps ghosts haunt because they are asking for prayers.
“Sometimes the veil between the two worlds is very thin,” said Bruskewicz.
The overall takeaway from the meeting was that we don’t need to be afraid of supernatural beings such as ghosts. Catholics believe God is always with us and that He is in control. Fr. Steve noted that Hollywood often tries to play up the fear associated with what we don’t understand, and we certainly don’t understand the supernatural. But movies are fiction for a reason, and chances are, most of us will never see a ghost. That doesn’t mean, however, that we won’t experience something positive, such as the protection of a guardian angel. In one of the stories shared, a desperate plea to a guardian angel actually got someone out of a speeding ticket. Miracles truly do happen every day.
