Please Don’t Take My Fish Fry Away
By REY FLORES
(Editor’s Note: To honor Rey Flores’ memory, we have been reprinting several of his most memorable articles. Here is one from Lent 2021.)
- + + “You are my fish fry, my favorite fish fry, you make me happy, when I crave fish. You’ll never know just how much I miss you, please don’t take my fish fry away.”
- + + With a lot of people still being scared half to death from the COVID pandemic, that and everyone taking extra precautions, we’ve learned to live in a new world of masks and a media-fueled fear pandemic. Is it real? Is it not? Are the COVID death statistics true or blown up by the big pharma and big media corporations? It’s still somewhat all up in the air.
When this whole thing started, everything basically came to a screeching halt. People were in a panic buying up all of the toilet paper and hand sanitizer they could get their hands on. Retailers couldn’t meet the demand quickly enough and started limiting how many of these items each customer could purchase. The upside is that maybe people started incorporating better personal hygiene practices. I hope.
The thing that bothered me the most was when churches started closing down. All of a sudden, the Mass many of us took for granted was taken away from us. Not just the Mass, but all of the sacraments as well. No more Confessions, no more Baptisms, weddings, funerals — just about every Christian church of every denomination, synagogues and mosques were all shut down until further notice.
While many of us were still trying to figure out just how serious this pandemic was or not, governments and religious entities took no risk and shut just about everything down. Funny enough, everything was shut down except liquor stores and Walmart.
I do not mean to be uncharitable to those who have either suffered some illness or lost a loved one due to a diagnosis of COVID. My prayers are with you. Part of me believes that many people with existing illnesses and compromised immune systems were chalked up as COVID deaths when they may already have been terminally ill anyway. I’m no doctor or scientist, but then again, I’m not a politician or an investor in pharmaceuticals either.
While the pandemic basically changed so many aspects of our lives, for us Christians, our faith lives have been changed forever. Especially because the whole COVID thing came right before Lent and Easter. Chalk it up to bad timing.
I did like how several pastors figured out how to safely offer Confession via drive-thru methods, and how social distancing worked well by spacing pews and distributing Communion in the sanctuaries themselves. I, however, could never get used to “attending” Mass online.
As the liturgical calendar has it, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. Many who went to their parish to receive ashes were met by some surprises. Many reported that they had ashes applied on their forehead with either a Q-tip or a no-contact pinch of ashes literally dumped on their heads. Hopefully we can get back to normal.
Now I get the uncertainty from when we were still trying to figure out this worldwide societal curve ball. For us Christians, many of us were all so worried about not catching this dreaded virus that we didn’t even worry about the absence of our annual tradition of the beloved parish fish fry.
But now, I’m taking notice.
In 2021, most parishes either again canceled their fish fries, or scaled them down to a drive-thru-like takeout only. It really stinks that we are now having to mess with the traditional fish fry at our parishes, and Knights of Columbus councils and VFWs as well!
I know a lot of us Catholics grew up with the timeless tradition of a fish fry at our local parish. Heck, it was another opportunity of real community-building with great food to boot! Fish fries offered a great and tasty reason for us to get together after the Stations of the Cross, reaffirming our faith over greasy fried fish, French fries, and a beer or two.
I encourage parishes to take the example of many courageous restaurant owners. A handful of restaurants have reopened their dining rooms, and the practice now is that customers wear their face masks while moving about the establishment, but are allowed to remove them when seated and eating. The restaurants who have welcomed diners also require their waitstaff to wear masks all the while when serving diners. Parishes can incorporate the same safe practices; why not?
Some of you may think I’m being silly for giving such importance to the fish fry, but I’ll say this. When Jesus distributed the fishes and loaves, imagine having to cancel that miraculous event because of a pandemic scare. Yes, I know I’m stretching it a bit here, but for crying out loud, “Please don’t take my fish fry away!”
God love you. A blessed Lent to everyone, fish fry or not.
