FISH ON Fridays is back on the Catholic Church’s menu, but seafood producers in Ireland and Britain are divided on whether this is a good thing.
For the first time since the “penance” of abstaining from meat on Fridays was lifted by the Church, British Catholics will be asked to resume the practice from September 16th, the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to England.
Curiously, the same measure urging penance on Friday has already been in place in Ireland for over a year, according to the Catholic Communications Office, although the seafood industry was not aware of it.
Re-introduction of the penance in Britain has been welcomed by the trade, with the Grimsby Fish Merchants’ Association noting yesterday that “anything that will help boost sales of fish and seafood has to be a good thing for our business”.
However, the Irish industry is not so ecstatic, given the acknowledged damage done to the sector by the association with penitence.
It was only in 1966, after the second Vatican Council, that Pope Paul VI agreed local bishops could find other forms of penance for their flock that did not require abstaining from meat.
The Pope’s pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland in March 2010 included a return to such penitential practices.
In his letter, the Pope urged Irish Catholics to devote their “Friday penances” for the following year to Church renewal.
Catholic Communications Office spokesman Martin Long said the office sent out tweets regularly on behalf of the episcopacy, encouraging people to remember Friday penance – fasting, acts of charity and prayer. It aimed to revive an ancient practice, given that Dé hAoine, the Irish word for Friday, translates as “the fast”, he said. “Fish is completely in accordance with the value of Friday penance,” Mr Long said, adding that he was a regular fish-eater himself.
Sectors of the seafood industry were unaware of the development when contacted yesterday.
“I’m delighted to hear that British Catholics are going to eat fish on Fridays, but I’d prefer if they ate it every day and preferably Irish-caught fish,” Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation chief executive Lorcan Ó Cinnéide said.
“I don’t think the association with penance is necessarily a good thing, as fish is a fabulous and healthy food which we should all be eating from Monday to Sunday,” he said.
“However, if Irish people take as much notice of this as other missives from the church, we are safe enough,” he added.
Irrespective of penitential duties, Bord Iascaigh Mhara has confirmed that Friday is still the most popular day in Ireland for buying fresh fish.
