“Each of you knows that the foundation of our faith is charity. Without it, our religion would crumble. We will never be truly Catholic unless we conform our entire lives to the two commandments that are the essence of the Catholic faith: to love the Lord, our God, with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
— Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
The fish fry tour officially kicked off this past Friday with a stop at St. Albert the Great in the Graymoor-Devondale neighborhood.
This fish fry is similar to many other suburban parishes, where the fish fry is held in the school gym with many volunteers being parents of the students at the parish school. Despite the fish fry not showing up in the original listing of the archdiocesan fish fries (now included in the current schedule), this fry was well-attended, as the group waited over 45 minutes in line for food. Fortunately, the beverage station was located well before the food stand, so you could quench your thirst during the wait.
The menu featured some new side items that I had not seen in the Louisville fries I’ve attended before. Before scrolling down, can you figure out what they are?
Answer: apple sauce and potato rounds. The potato rounds are especially prevalent, as they are a part of the fish fry dinner plate. The apple sauce is a good side for the many children in attendance.
As always, I went with the fried fish, with sides of Mac n’ cheese and green beans. You may notice that I had no dessert, which was part due to the dessert table being off in the corner and part being ready to eat after the long wait. As you can also see, the food was plentiful for the night.
For the amount of food that you will receive, this was a pretty good deal. With the Bud Light, the total cost was $10.50, which is on the lower end for fish fries in town.
For our first week, it was a good start to the tour. I do recommend arriving early, though, as this is clearly a popular spot on Friday nights. St. Albert’s will be running their fish fries on all Fridays in March, from 5-7:30. They are located at 1395 Girard Drive.
By the way, those pull tabs were all losing tickets. One of these times I will win!
“When a person commits a fault, God certainly wishes him to humble himself, to be sorry for his sin, and to purpose never to fall into it again; but he does not wish him to be indignant with himself, and give way to trouble and agitation of mind; for, while the soul is agitated, a man is incapable of doing good.”
— St. Alphonsus De Liguori
“The Way of the Cross is not only a great testimony to an inner depth and maturity, but it is in fact a school for interiority and consolation. It is also a school for the examination of conscience, for conversion, for inner transformation and compassion–not as sentimentality, as a mere feeling, but as a disturbing experience that knocks on the door of my heart, that obliges me to know myself and to become a better person.”
– Pope Benedict XVI
“In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.”
— St. John of the Cross
Penance doesn’t mean a thing if it’s not God’s Will. St. Teresa of Avila was so determined that she was going to do all these penance a one Lent. Well, she got into bed and was so sick everybody had to wait on her. She complained to the Lord, and He said to her. “That was your penance, but this is mine for you.” We all have ideas of how we’re going to be holy and how we’re going to do penance. It’s amazing what we’ll do if it’s our will, but if it’s God’s Will we all scream.” ~ Mother Angelica
Apologies, a little late in publishing, but here is the first of many meditations, compiled by the Dominican priests at St. Louis Bertrand in Louisville.
“I earnestly admonish you, therefore, my brothers, to look after your spiritual well-being with judicious concern. Death is certain; life is short and vanishes like smoke. Fix your minds, then, on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inflamed with love for us, he came down from heaven to redeem us. For our sake he endured every torment of body and soul and shrank from no bodily pain. He himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love. We, then, are to be patient in adversity.”
— St. Francis of Paola
The season of penitent preparation is beginning this week! Are you ready?
Now, I know many of you are chomping at the bit for the fish fry schedule. As of now, the full schedule is still being worked on, but I can tell you the first stop on the tour this year is…
St. Albert The Great, 1395 Girard Drive
As my schedule lightens up, I’ll post the full schedule and more details for this Friday. Also be on the look out for daily meditations from Fr. Hertzog.
Happy 2017 readers! We are just under a month until Lent, and since Easter 2016, the Chronicles has been brainstorming new ideas for articles and posts. Coming up this year:
Stay tuned for more!
Our penultimate fish fry led us to the east end of Jefferson County to St. Michael’s Church, one of the fastest growing parishes in the archdiocese. We were not at the fish fry long, as we arrived later than usual. As such, we actually missed dessert (a true penance!), but was able to celebrate a Holy Hour in honor of 2 seminarians who were recently ordained deacons. Congratulations Casey Sanders and Michael Martin!
The menu showed two new items: Jalapeño poppers and mozzarella sticks.
I am actually surprised we have not seen those items this year, given how they are Lent friendly, and also somewhat child friendly. Alas, I stuck with a familiar meal: fried fish with green beans, onion rings, and Coors Light.
As mentioned, I did not have dessert this time, as they had run out by the time we were seated. It was also less crowded than expected because we ate towards the end of the shift. My guess is that given the size of the parish and the school attached, we missed rush hour.
One thing that was missed (again, probably due to our late arrival) were the typical side items, like cake wheels and raffles. Instead, since it’s March, there were a couple TV screens for the March Madness games. The game on the screen that night was Texas A&M vs. UW-Green Bay, eventually won by the Aggies. (NOTE: The author of this blog is a Wisconsin Badger fan. While the UW-Pittsburgh game was on at the time, none of the TV screens were playing the…well, what one would call a game. Nonetheless, they prevailed.)
We were also joined by two native Panamanians for our tour this week. They tried the fish and the Jalapeño poppers. It ended up being their first fish fry ever, as Panama does not hold fish fries, despite being a primarily Catholic country. They thoroughly enjoyed the new experience.
For the sake of the joy which lay before him he endured the cross, heedless of its shame. He has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Remember how he endured the opposition of sinners; hence do not grow despondent or abandon the struggle. In your fight against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. Moreover, you have forgotten the encouraging words addressed to you as sons:
“My sons, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord
nor lose heart when he reproves you;
For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;
he scourges every son he receives.”
Endure your trials as the discipline of God, who deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
At the time it is administered, all discipline seems a cause for grief and not for joy, but later it brings forth the fruit of peace and justice to those who are trained in its school. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight the paths you walk on, that your halting limbs may not be dislocated but healed. –Letter to the Hebrews 12:1-13
Fish Fry Chronicles 