By: Alexis Stallard, Editor-in-Chief
Spooky season undeniably ends on Oct. 31, but I think about something far scarier after the clock strikes midnight on Halloween. Newman students being forced to attend school on Nov. 1 is the scariest thing of all.
No, I’m not advocating that Newman cancel classes so that we can all deal with our Halloween hangovers and sugar crashes. Nov. 1 is actually All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church. It’s only right that a Catholic University observes that occasion.
Not only is it important to honor the feast day, but it’d be a nice little break for some students. Not to mention, we could rub it in the faces of the other colleges in the area. It’s embarrassing to be subjected to the horror of attending school on a day when it is completely acceptable to cancel school.
I’ve gone to Catholic schools since I was in pre-school, so that amounts to about 16 years of Catholic education. Fourteen of those years I have taken for granted that I got the day after Halloween off, and I now dearly miss it. The joy I got out of knowing that my public school friends would have to quit trick or treating early because they had school and I didn’t is a joy I no longer get to experience.
On a serious note, I do think it’s important to observe the feast day even if not everyone on campus is Catholic. We are still a Catholic school, and I think it’s a shame to not honor the foundations of our school. While not everyone is Catholic and would attend Mass, a good portion of the student body is Catholic.
So please, for the love of all that is holy, cancel school on Nov. 1 next year in observance of All Saints Day.
PHOTO: Courtesy photo, Unsplash
