Oh cod beyond all praising — the secret sauce that keeps parish fish fries afloat
Hint: It’s more than just the homemade tartar sauce…
The Fish Friar at St. John the Baptist Parish in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, can’t hear confessions and doesn’t live in a religious community.
But he’s happy to have a beer with visitors to the parish – that is, after he’s done with his fish frying duties for the evening.
“There are people who actually think I am a real priest,” said Mike Conrad, the parish “fish friar.”
And it’s no surprise – Conrad does don a Franciscan friar costume for the parish’s famous fish fries each Lent.
He’ll tell visitors, Conrad told The Pillar: “If you need to go to confession, we go across the street. I can’t absolve you, but I can have a drink with you afterwards.”
The Lenten fish fries at St. John the Baptist have become legendary. A 30-year-old tradition, they attracted some 500 people a night when they first began.
Now, they see an average of 1,200 people per night – in a town of just 1,100 people.
“We get people from all over,” Conrad said. “It’s a good time. We get them in the door, they’re able to socialize. They could have a beer or two, maybe three or four, whatever they do, eat as much fish as they want. But they come out, they’re usually in groups and the groups gather together and it’s like an outing and people really seem to enjoy it.”
Why is the fish fry at St. John the Baptist so popular? Maybe it’s the decades-long reputation for drawing a vibrant crowd, or the fresh ingredients, or the affordable price point (all-you-can-eat for $15).
But whatever it is that keeps people coming back, the people running the event – including dinner and a raffle – know it takes a lot of work. The parish itself is small, with only about 200 families.
About half of the volunteers at St. John the Baptist’s fish fries are not parishioners, but they are dedicated to continuing a tradition that has become beloved by Catholics and nonCatholics alike.
“We also have people [volunteering] that aren’t part of our community,” Conrad said. “They come and they work. They enjoy the camaraderie and the opportunity to come out and see people. Our volunteers look forward to the fish fry.”
A doorway into parish life
Fish fries have long been a cultural juggernaut in the Midwest. In recent years, they have been growing in popularity across the country as well.
Serving a fare of fried fish and sides that may include coleslaw, fries, and hush puppies, the events have become a Friday Lenten staple, and an opportunity for locals to come together for camaraderie and a good, meat-free meal.
Father Stephen Buting, pastoral administrator at St. Stephen’s Church outside of Milwaukee, has been attending fish fries for as long as he can remember.
That’s just what you do in the Midwest, he said.
Buting described the fish fry as a type of Midwest supper club.
“Supper clubs are these sit down, family-friendly, resturaunt-esue neighborhood environments where you go and there’s a number of things, but it is all predictable, but enjoyable, from the brandy old fashioned up to your main course,” Buting said. “Fish fries are the same environment, we just don’t serve steak.”
Midwest culinary genius has inspired fish fry menus for generations: deep fry everything, except the coleslaw.
“Truth be told, in the Midwest, we just fry a lot of things,” Buting said. “Our state fairs are sort of legendary for the kind of places where you can find anything fried. Oreos and butter sticks and hot dogs. You name it, we fry it.”
Buting sees the value that the fish fry brings to his parish community of 1,000 families.
“The fish fry is one of the best ways to first get involved at St. Stephen’s. It is oftentimes the doorway to a life of deeper participation in the community,” Buting said. “You start to meet other people as you are volunteering alongside them and you start to then recognize them in the pews next to you, then you feel a little bit more comfortable striking up a conversation.”
“Next thing you know, they invite you to a small group that they are in or to be an usher or a greeter. The fish fries are a doorway into a lot of other ways to get involved with the community.”
As a Wisconsin kid and now a Catholic priest, Buting has opinions on what makes for a good parish fish fry.
“You need a good product for a good price point. If the price starts creeping up too much, people ask why couldn’t I just go to a restaurant and get this instead of going to a church. If the product isn’t really that good of a quality, they might stick with you for loyalty for a little bit, but eventually they’ll find somewhere else. So the product has to be solid,” Buting said.
“It has to feel local and particular to the place. You’ve got to embrace the old fashioned parish cafeteria or basement or whatever you have. Those places have a homey feel to them that makes it just a more enjoyable experience than just going to a sit down restaurant. It’s warm, it’s inviting,” Buting added. “Lastly, you have to have a dedicated group of volunteers who love it and want to welcome people in.”
Midwest meets East Coast
Originally a Midwest custom, weekly parish fish fries have since expanded across the nation.
Seventeen years ago, St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church, Virginia held its first fish fry. A parishioner, originally from Ohio, had grown up around fish fries and was hoping to bring this cultural staple to St. James.
With the help of other transplants from the Midwest, he lobbied the pastor. It took years, but he eventually convinced the parish to try out a fish fry.
Julie Theobald, originally from Tennessee, excitedly joined the team of organizers. She told The Pillar that the parish already had some Lenten soup suppers, but she was eager to help make fish fries a reality too.
“There were about 10 of us that helped the first year, and most of the 10 are still very involved,” she said.
It was a hit – drawing people from across Virginia and inspiring other parishes to begin their own fish fries.
“We attract people from all over the place, which is kind of interesting. When we started, there were not a lot of churches doing fish fries around here,” Theobald said. “We have actually had other churches come over to ask how we made this work, and those parishes have started their own.”
The St. James Fish Fry became a community staple, where parishioners and locals know that they can have a cheap, good meal and find a vibrant community on Fridays in Lent.
Since it began nearly two decades ago, St. James has not raised the suggested donation price for the meal: $7 per person, with a family max of $25.
And if anyone can’t pay, the cashiers will not turn them away.
“It’s all donation based, we have given away thousands of meals for free over the lifetime of this because if people can’t pay, we still welcome them in,” Theobald said. “Our goal is really just to not lose money, to break even and we do that year after year through the grace of God.”
Every dime they receive goes to the fish fry, and any surplus at the end of the season is donated to the parish’s social outreach committee.
Theobald believes that this strategy has contributed to the fish fry’s growth and success, as leaders and volunteers are not focused on turning a profit or ensuring a large turnout, but are instead dedicated to creating a vibrant environment for the community.
“Our team has embraced this vision, that it’s not going to be a fundraiser, rather we’re going to give away as much food as we can, we want it to be a community building activity,” Theobald said. “There is nothing wrong with doing fundraisers, but it changes the mindset.”
When the fish fry started at St. James, about 300 people showed up. Now the fryers churn out 1,200 meals, served by a team of 125 volunteers, every Friday in Lent.
In addition to the affordable price, Theobald attributes the success of the event to a dedicated volunteer corp – and homemade food.
“We have really embraced volunteers. We try to get school kids and high school teens to come and volunteer. But the other thing is we try to make stuff homemade as much as possible,” she said.
“The guys who fry the fish, they are hand battering that stuff. We are making homemade hush puppies. We make homemade coleslaw. We do buy industrial tartar sauce, but then we doctor it so it seems more homemade. To the extent it is possible, it’s fresh and homemade.”
“It’s actually really good quality food and the price is insane.”
Sitting down and staying awhile
Back in the heartland in Granger, Iowa, the Knights of Columbus at Assumption Catholic Parish have made a name for themselves by serving fresh, homemade food at the parish fish fry each week in Lent.
Doug Elbert has been volunteering at the parish fish fries for five years. He believes that it is the fresh food that distinguishes Assumption’s fish fry from that of other parishes.
“Everything that we do in our fish fry is freshly made. On Thursday and Friday morning, volunteers make coleslaw, and Friday afternoon, we make our tartar sauce. We make our own batter on our fried fish, and we have our own seasoning for our baked fish,” Elbert said. “We don’t like to buy that pre-packaged coleslaw or tartar sauce. We do it all with fresh ingredients every week.”
Like St. James, Assumption asks for a free-will offering, making it an affordable option for families. A dedicated group from the local Knights of Columbus chapter runs the fish fry every year, inviting other parishioners — from school kids to families — to assist.
“We have a great group of men in our Knights of Columbus Council at Assumption Church, and they look forward to doing this every year. We have no lack of volunteers from that group of men to come in and help, and it’s just a pleasure and joy to have these types of men dedicated to serving our church and our community,” Elbert said. “We pride ourselves on good food and a good time.”
Apart from quality and cost, a sense of community just might be the secret sauce to the Assumption fish fries.
While the food and low cost are a point of pride for Elbert and the other Knights, they know it is not about the food. For an hour or longer, the 360 seats in the school gym are filled with parishioners and guests, talking. And in typical Midwest fashion, guests linger well-past the time the last fish filet hits the fryer.
“People can come and sit down and talk to other people, see other parishioners. It’s just a big community. We have 360 seats in our church gym, and for about an hour, all 360 seats are pretty much filled every week,” Elbert said. “It’s just a huge gathering, and people love sitting there and chatting for hours on end.”
A chance to evangelize
Parishioners and guests sitting and chatting in a parish hall for hours on end are the ethos of any good fish fry. The relationships that are forged as just as much a feature as the fish itself.
“It’s nice to see people year after year,” Conrad said. “There is this one girl from Iowa that when she was little, I would go over and talk to her folks and she’d always be wearing different headbands. I’d always say, can I borrow your headband? She would hesitantly let me borrow the headband and I’d run around with that on selling tickets and give it back to her at the end of the night.”
“She’s now a senior in high school, and last year she came over with her mom and dad, walked over to me and handed a headband to me as a gift.”
Fr. Buting, who is now a parish administrator, likes to greet parishioners and guests at the weekly fish fry. He particularly tries to make sure visitors feel welcome and are invited into the parish community.
“I consider myself to be the welcome volunteer, I try to talk to everybody that comes, especially the ones that I may not recognize from the pews. I like to ask questions about how they found us, what they think of the food etc,” Buting said. “Inevitably, I manage to get one or two questions about faith in there, and ask them what would make you more eager to join the Church community?”
At St. James, the fish fry has become a core community event for the parish.
“The fish fry is just such a fun, community thing. People don’t want to miss out,” Theobald said. “People hear about this and they want to be a part of it, whether as a volunteer or as an attendee. We have a vibrant parish and I think the fish fry is one of the core things the parish is doing because it brings so many people together.”
To Conrad, the chance to welcome non-Catholics into parish life is also a great opportunity to evangelize.
“Every week, you see people you kind of know, go over and just share a few words with them. Then you’re evangelizing at that point. You are reaching out to the people,” Conrad said. “When people come to our fish fry they feel very welcome, they feel like they belong to the community.”
Thanks, Jack, I'm not going to be able to keep a straight face the next time we sing a particular hymn. Examine your conscience. 🧐
Elite title and great article.