Coming together in community: Fish frys are a combination of faith, food, fun and fundraising
Holy Angels parishioner Reggie Ash of Indianapolis displays a tray of “whole cats,” breaded catfish that he deep-fried during the Indianapolis West Deanery parish’s Lenten fish fry on Feb. 8 at the Holy Angels School cafeteria.
(Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)
By John Shaughnessy
Step inside the parish hall on a Friday in Lent and pick up a piece of homemade apple, blackberry or pumpkin pie—desserts that some people call a taste of heaven.
And make sure you get the side orders of cole slaw and baked macaroni-and-cheese, both made from scratch.
Then make your choice between fish, cheese pizza and spaghetti.
Now that your tray is full at a parish fish fry in your area, look for a seat among your friends as Father Brian Esarey shares the most important ingredient of this growing trend across the archdiocese—a trend that is hooking Catholics from Indianapolis to Tell City and from Batesville to Terre Haute.
“When we sit down and break bread together and eat fish, we are reminded of the first community around the Lord and the call to love and serve one another,” says Father Esarey, the pastor of St. Martin Parish in Yorkville and St. Paul Parish in New Alsace in the Batesville Deanery. “It reminds us of our Lord coming together with his disciples. He taught them and they came together to enjoy each other’s company.”
So sit back and savor a fish fry’s combination of faith, food, fun and fundraising as we offer a sampling of these events from across the archdiocese.
Angels among us
Alison Culpepper always noticed the hard work and the sacrifice that her parents’ generation made for the Church and Holy Angels Parish in Indianapolis. She especially saw the devotion that longtime parishioner Adelaide Long gave to the parish’s Lenten fish fry. So when Long’s health started to suffer a few years ago, Culpepper agreed to help her as a gesture of her admiration.
“For at least 50 years, it’s been a tradition that the children of parishioners are groomed to help from an early age,” says Culpepper, 48, the chairperson of the parish’s fish fry. “This is my generation’s time to step up.”
For Culpepper, that means using the fish fry to give the larger Indianapolis community a display of Catholic faith in action every Friday during Lent from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Serving platters of perch, whiting and catfish serves a greater purpose to her.
“The Lenten season is about sacrifice and connecting with our community of faith—not only our fellow parishioners, but the community at large,” she says. “This is a strictly volunteer effort. Most of us have 40-hour work weeks and we have to fit this into our schedules. But you should do whatever you can to help the Church.
“Doing this gives you time to pause and do more reflection about this whole season and what being Catholic means. It allows you to strengthen your relationship with God and your bonds with others in your community of faith.”
An unusual reminder
In her first week of work in the Terre Haute Deanery in early January, Providence Sister Mary Montgomery received an unusual and loud reminder as she met with parish leaders to plan the deanery’s Lenten calendar.
“We were getting the dates and times for liturgies and Stations of the Cross and reconciliation services,” recalls Sister Mary, the director of the deanery’s pastoral center. “I was making sure I had everything right and someone yelled out, ‘Don’t forget the fish frys!’ I said, ‘OK! OK!’ ”
An interesting quality about fish frys in the Terre Haute Deanery is that parishes take turns each Friday throughout Lent holding the events.
Some of the Terre Haute parishes in the fish fry rotation are St. Ann, St. Benedict, Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Joseph University. Other parishes in the deanery that have a fish fry include Annunciation in Brazil, Sacred Heart in Clinton and St. Joseph in Rockville.
“It just said to me how valuable that tradition is in the Catholic community here,” Sister Mary says. “They’re supportive of each other. It builds funds and friends in a lot of the parishes.”
It’s also a part of the way faith is developed during Lent.
“Lent is built into our faith as a time-out to focus on the discipleship we’re called to,” Sister Mary says. “Jesus invites us to walk closely with him. He wants us to do that all our lives. Lent can be a time of revival for our faith, touching back into those core values we hold dear.”
A flair for the different
The fish fry at St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis has always been a little different.
Part of the difference is that the weekly Lenten get-together is run by men because the fish fry is an effort of the parish’s men’s club. There’s also the different batter that the men of the parish use, a “wet” batter that has beer as an ingredient.
Then there’s the different menu. Besides the fried cod, the St. Simon fish fry offers baked salmon and penne pasta with marinara sauce. This year, there are also weekly specials that include crab cakes, baked tilapia, peel-and-eat shrimp and calamari.
Just as special, there’s a group of children who actually volunteer to wash dishes at the fish fry.
“Me and several guys get together on Thursday nights to prep the product, and we start at 1 or 2 on Friday afternoon to get everything going,” says Blaine Powers, vice president of the parish’s men’s club, who also works for a food service company. “I’m in restaurants all day long. That’s how I got roped into this. They knew I was involved in food.”
The reality is that Powers enjoys the involvement in the fish fry that often serves about 800 meals a night and made more than $8,000 for the parish last year.
“I like to make good food, and I enjoy giving that to the parish,” he says. “And it’s a good time for the guys in the men’s club. We have a lot of fun doing it.”
A surprising benefit
Diana Lain can’t hide her delight when she shares an unexpected benefit from the fish fry at St. Michael Parish in Cannelton in the Tell City Deanery in far southern Indiana.
“We get people who are Baptists and Methodists who come in and eat with us,” says Lain, one of the organizers of the weekly Lenten dinner. “They come a few times during Lent.”
Creating a connection with people of other faith traditions is a nice extra of an already bountiful meal of fish, cole slaw, baked beans, cornbread, a drink and a dessert—all for $6.
“The fish fry was my husband’s way of getting people involved in our Church,” Lain says. “Norman loves to cook. He said everybody eats fish on Friday, and he sees the fish fry as his way to give back to the Church.”
Like many parishes that have fish fries, St. Michael’s is connected time-wise to its Stations of the Cross.
“We have the Stations of the Cross at 5 [p.m.] and people come to the fish fry at 5:30,” Lain says. “It brings more people to both. The fish fry has been successful. We make over $3,000 during Lent. We’d like to make more, but that’s not our goal. We want people to come to the church.”
A slice of pie and heaven
Anita Back enjoys the slower pace that is part of life in the rural parishes of St. Martin in Yorkville and St. Paul in New Alsace in the Batesville Deanery.
Yet every Friday in Lent, Back and her friend, Rosemary Hoffmeier, seldom have a quiet moment as they prepare for the fish fry, where their volunteer staff will serve about 200 meals.
“We get together every Friday morning to make the cole slaw and the macaroni-and-cheese from scratch,” says Back, the president of the parish council at St. Martin Parish. “Then we get the hall set up for the fish fry. Friday afternoon, we come back at 3 o’clock. We have men who fry the fish and we bake the macaroni-and-cheese. People bring homemade desserts, mostly pies—blackberry, peach, apple and pumpkin. I make a couple of blackberry pies every week.”
By 7:30 p.m. on Fridays, Back acknowledges that she is worn out, but says the effort is worth it.
“It creates a sense of community,” she says. “I ask people to help, and we have a lot of fun doing it. It’s work and yet it’s a way of serving our community. It’s good to get together and visit.”
After the fish fry ends at 7 p.m., Stations of the Cross begin at 7:30 p.m. on alternate Fridays at St. Martin and St. Paul parishes.
“We grow in faith when we come together,” says Father Esarey, the pastor of both parishes. “It’s a good way in Lent to prepare for our Lord’s resurrection. We belong to a larger Church, but each parish is a true Church in miniature. Together, we can do good things.”
(For more Lenten resources, log on to the archdiocesan Web site at www.archindy.org/lent.) †
