This age group bores easily and tries to be persuasive at every opportunity, so you can imagine the reaction I got when I told them we were not allowed to have Oct. 31st class as a "Halloween Party" because it is not a religious celebration. In response to the protests, I told 1 girl to then research All Saints's Day and we'd discuss the possibility of celebrating that instead.
I searched the net and found some good blogs and recent articles posted about this very topic! In particualr, http://nightoflight.org/ is a (international) campaign effort by the Catholic Church in England to have children dress up as a favorite SAINT and have a celebration and activities based on LIGHT.
I then found an article about Pope Benedict's Sunday Mass discussing 6 new Saints and to follow their example of active prayer for our own prayer lives:
Pope Benedict noted that although the faithful might at times consider prayer tiresome and ineffective, being tempted to use human means to reach their goals, the Lord underscores the importance of prayer as in the parable in the Gospel reading.
"God in fact is generosity personified," said the Pope, "he is merciful, and therefore he is always willing to listen to prayers. Therefore we must never despair, but always persist in prayer."
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/benedict-xvi-six-newest-saints-show-faith-can-still-be-found/
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2010/10/13/bishops-halloween-advice-dress-children-up-as-saints-not-witches/
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2010/10/13/debate-can-catholics-take-the-horror-out-of-halloween/
