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  • #1447
    Anonymous
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    All Saints’ Day
    [The vigil of this feast is popularly called “Hallowe’en” or “Halloween”.]

    Solemnity celebrated on the first of November. It is instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of saints’ feasts during the year.

    In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr’s death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the Chaldean Calendar a “Commemoratio Confessorum” for the Friday after Easter. In the West Boniface IV, 13 May, 609, or 610, consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on 1 May. Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus IV (1471-84).

    [color=blue:354zoe9v]Taken from the 1914 CC[/color:354zoe9v]

    #7281
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    <img decoding=” title=”Sad” /> BOISE, Idaho (AP) — No black cat will cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it.

    Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d’Alene is prohibiting black cat adoptions from now to November 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks — or worse, sacrificed in some satanic ritual.

    The risk may be remote, said the shelter’s executive director, Phil Morgan.

    “It’s kind of an urban legend. But in the humane industry it’s pretty typical that shelters don’t do adoptions of black cats or white bunnies because of the whole satanic sacrificial thing,” Morgan said. “If we prevent one animal from getting hurt, then it serves its purpose.”

    Out of 97 cats at the shelter, 28 are black, Morgan said.

    However, some animal experts say the practice does more to hurt animals than protect them.

    “Black cats already suffer a stigma because of their color,” said Gail Buchwald, vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in New York City. “Why penalize them any more by limiting the times when they can be adopted?”

    Black cats tend to be adopted less often than other felines, Buchwald said.

    “Behaviorally, there’s no difference from the color of the cat. It’s tied into this whole mythology about the animal — don’t let it cross your path or some foreboding or foreshadowing of evil — and that’s an outdated superstition,” she said.

    It’s not clear how many shelters still seasonally ban black cat adoptions, said Kim Intino, director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States, but the trend seems to be fading — along with the once-common bans on bunny adoptions around Easter or puppy adoptions as Christmas gifts.

    “If there were people out there performing rituals with animals, then I would think that Halloween would be a time for that, but a good adoption process would tend to weed that out,” Intino said. “There’s going to be incidents of weird abuse that happen no matter what. The remedy is not banning black cat adoptions.”
    http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/28/blackcat.ap/index.html

    #7282
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Sex offenders on probation or parole in Tennessee are banned from Halloween costume parties this year and aren’t allowed to put up decorations like jack-o-lanterns that might attract youngsters.

    The new state guidelines are meant to clarify policies that prevent offenders from interacting with children, said Board of Probation and Parole spokesman Jack Elder, and were not enacted in response to any specific problems the board has seen during the Halloween season.

    Tennessee isn’t the only state keeping close watch on sex offenders during Halloween. New York issued similar Halloween restrictions for sex offenders this year and imposed a 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. Halloween curfew on them. Sex offenders in Lima, Ohio, and Gaston County, North Carolina, were ordered to attend meetings with authorities that coincide with the prime hours for trick-or-treating.

    Maryland has told sex offenders on parole or probation to keep their porch lights turned off Tuesday night. In addition, Baltimore County will pay about 20 plainclothes officers overtime to work the streets and look for sex offenders who have contact with children other than their own, said county police Cpl. Michael Hill.

    The Tennessee restrictions prohibit sex offenders from attending special Halloween events like corn field mazes and haunted houses, handing out treats, displaying Halloween decorations, accompanying trick-or-treating children or wearing costumes.

    They apply to all sex offenders on probation or parole — about 2,000 of the 8,100 registered offenders living in the state — and not specifically to those offenders whose crimes involved minors.

    “No matter what their sex offense might have been, they must adhere to the same rules,” Elder said. “Any sex offender is not supposed to have contact with minors. They all sign the same directives.”

    That means that offenders with children must find someone else to accompany them on trick-or-treating walks, he said. And if other children knock on their doors on Halloween, the offenders must not answer.

    Nashville attorney Brent Horst, who challenged a 2004 state law that retroactively prohibited sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of a school, said the new guidelines were not treating sex offenders fairly.

    “Now, 99 out of a hundred people will say ‘Of course not. They’re sex offenders. They ought to be treated this way.’ But what bothers me is that it’s a slippery slope. Who’s next?”

    Verna Wyatt, executive director of the statewide victim’s rights organization You Have the Power, said the guidelines seemed appropriate.

    “When a child comes to a sex offender’s house and knocks on a door, it puts the sex offender at risk of re-offending and puts the innocent child at risk,” she said.

    Parole board officers will conduct spot checks to make sure the offenders are obeying the rules. Violators could lose their parole or probation.

    http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/29/hallow … index.html

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