![]() ![]() ![]() No secret recipes were divulged to this reporter but since it was in Maryland, the two big containers of Old Bay seasoning on the counter were no surprise. Ludwig orders all the food each week – including 215 pounds of farm-raised basa, a type of catfish – and plenty of tartar sauce.įry cooks get going a few hours before doors officially open. A youth volunteer – from a group of about 30 at each fish fry – fills the order in the kitchen – staffed with volunteers in a cafeteria assembly line – and delivers it.īut the work starts long before the crowds line up and finishes long after they have left as Teresa Richardson and Anna Ludwig – co-chairs of the fish fry and the last to leave when the hall is clean – can attest. Once customers select baked/fried fish or vegetable lasagna and two sides they get a number. Parishioners not only come to the dinners but they also are involved in the volunteer work needed to make them happen. Confessions start at the church during the last hour of the fish fry and right afterward are the Stations of the Cross. ![]() The priest, who was greeting people who filled the parish hall March 11, said the parish event is a combination of community-building, fundraising and evangelizing. His comment also was a reminder that Lenten fish fries aren’t solely Catholic, but something Methodist, Baptist and Lutheran churches offer. He noted that other local churches aren’t doing them this year, so the parish is getting diners from the greater community and even farther away. John’s fish fry also is the “only game in town” right now, the pastor, Father Mark Bialek, told Catholic News Service. Her husband pointed out that you run into parishioners you might not normally see because they go to different Masses. Jean Ditman, a longtime parishioner, who came with her husband, Dean, agreed that it brings the whole community together. It brings the parish together,” said Gini McKain, who was working the dessert table to benefit the Ladies Sodality group at the parish. “It’s extremely important in this day and age and with the war going on. ![]() John Church, in a rural area about an hour from Baltimore, started doing fish fries in 2006 and has kept up the tradition ever since, although the parish had to stop them abruptly in 2020 and only offered carry-out meals last year.įor this year’s fish fries, lines already form before the doors open at 4 p.m., and steady crowds have continued until cutoff time three hours later. John’s in Westminster said at the start of the second fish fry of the year March 11, when the parish served about 560 meals. Still, not as many churches are hosting them as they were pre-pandemic. By the following Lent, most parishes either didn’t have them or only offered them as carry-out, and often drive-thru, events.īut this year, as the country looks to reclaim some sense of normalcy with numbers of COVID-19 cases decreasing and mask mandates lifting, fish fries are cautiously coming back with both to-go and dine-in options. In 2020, parishes got in one or maybe two fish fries before the country went into lockdown. Lenten Friday fish fries, a staple at many Catholic parishes in some regions of the United States, were among the many things put on the back burner during the coronavirus pandemic. ![]()
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