Every Halloween, ghouls come out of the woodwork. But these ghouls are not supernatural. Rather, they are those who turn a fun children’s holiday into a chance to bash Catholicism.
A number of stores carried two particularly odious getups. “Happy Priest,” made by Spirit Halloween (a division of Spencer Gifts), is a costume of a priest with an erection, and “Thank You Father Nun” depicts a pregnant nun. Not seen in stores, however, were offensive costumes of rabbis or imams. Apparently, Spencer Gifts prefers to attack only Catholics. (The company did not respond to a letter from the Catholic League.)
Haunted houses were another venue for mocking the Church. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Evil Intentions in Bolingbrook, Illinois featured “skeletons dressed as priests and nuns—crucified upside down.” This was because, according to the attraction’s owner, “We attack the whole religious aspect of things.” Yet no mention was made of any other faith being maligned at Evil Intentions. More disturbing were images of “dead babies strung up on barbed wire.” This sort of sickness is unfathomable.
The Chicago Tribune reported that another Illinois haunted house, Dungeon of Doom in Grayslake, had one staffer dressed “as a priest with a large, bloody cross ‘burned’ on his forehead.”
It is frustrating for parents taking their kids out on Halloween to encounter such sights, but speaking up can truly effect change. As a store owner in Vails Gate, New York told the Times Herald Record when asked why he sold the offensive priest and nun costumes, “If I’d gotten a complaint, I would have thought it over.” He eventually did get rid of the costumes.
