Ready to hear another fish story?

I was out running some errands the other day and noticed that McDonald's and Arby's were advertising fish in a major way.  Maybe there is a surplus of fish?  Maybe it's some kind of marketing war?  This surely is no coincidence (I agree, I really have too much time on my hands!)  Then it dawned on me - it's Lent and our Catholic brethren eat fish on Fridays! These fast food restaurants are marketing towards this!  And why not?  There are over 77 million registered Catholics in the USA (interesting, multiple of 7...) looking for fish on Fridays during Lent.

Why fish?  Well, actually, Catholics are not required to eat fish; they just need to abstain from meat.  Back in the day, there was an unsubstantiated rumor that a medieval pope was pushing the fish angle because he was trying to energize the fishing industry.  This market boost actually did happen when all those Catholics (and there were a lot!) replaced meat with fish every Friday!  And that increase to the fishing economy is still viable today.  When the Catholic church loosened its requirements about abstinence in the 60's, it did cause a downturn in the fishing industry.

So helping the fishing industry had a societal economic benefit but what might be a more plausible reason for abstinence?  Popular theologic opinion is that fasting and abstinence on Fridays is to commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus when he died on the cross (on a Friday) to redeem our sins.  According to Michael Foley, the author of the book Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?, it's the flesh of warmblooded animals that is off limits because they are considered symbolic of this sacrifice.  But since fish are coldblooded, they are okay!  And so is anything vegetarian!

Here's an interesting side note - a McDonald's franchise owner in a large Catholic area in Ohio was losing sales on Fridays which spawned (get it, fish reference..) the development of the filet-o-fish!


What other facts did I learn in my research?  I hope you find these interesting:

• Earlier, I wrote about the importance of the number 40 - look who I found fasting for 40 days preparing spiritually for something of importance:  Moses before receiving the Ten Commandments (Ex 34:28); the prophet Daniel before receiving his vision (Dan 10:2-6);  Elijah the prophet before God spoke to him (1 Kings 19:8);  and Jesus in preparation for His temptation by the devil and for the beginning of His ministry (Mt 4:1-11, Lk 4:1-13).  We may not be fasting in the same way, but we are preparing for a spiritually important event.  Looks like we are in good company!

• The Catholic traditions of lenten ashes, penitence and fasting are not just for Catholics anymore.  When the early Protestant churches started spinning off, they really didn't want anything to do with the Catholic traditions.  More recently, however, there has been a period of cross-culture in the churches and the traditions are following former Catholics into modern day Protestant churches.

• Fasting and ashes predate Christianity—Job repents "in dust and ashes" in the Old Testament.  The ritual of putting ashes on the forehead started as a public confession ceremony for Christian sinners that preceded Easter. It became a recognized or approved practice throughout the church by the 11th century.

• Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent, and are referred to as the Sundays in Lent.  I wondered why I counted 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter.  I love it when things suddenly make sense!