The Pillar, a prominent post-conciliar news outlet, reports on the enduring popularity of Lenten fish fries in American parishes, framing them as successful community-building events that attract large crowds through affordable prices, homemade food, and a welcoming atmosphere. The article quotes “Father” Stephen Buting, a pastoral administrator, and lay volunteer Mike Conrad, who dons a “Franciscan friar costume” as the “Fish Friar.” It emphasizes social camaraderie, low-cost meals, and evangelization opportunities through casual conversation, while completely omitting any reference to the supernatural purpose of Lent: penance, reparation for sin, conversion of life, and the avoidance of hell. The piece presents fish fries as a naturalistic social club activity, subtly promoting a religion of human warmth and community over the Catholic duty to satisfy divine justice and save souls. This reduction of a holy season to a mere culinary and social event is a stark manifestation of the post-conciliar Church’s apostasy, where the “abomination of desolation” stands in the holy place, replacing penance with parties.
The Naturalistic Reduction of a Supernatural Season
The article’s entire premise rests on the naturalistic assumption that the primary value of a Lenten parish event is social cohesion, affordable dining, and “community building.” “It’s a good time. We get them in the door, they’re able to socialize,” says volunteer Mike Conrad. “People love sitting there and chatting for hours on end,” reports Doug Elbert. This focus on human pleasure and fellowship directly contradicts the unchangeable Catholic doctrine on the purpose of Lent. The 1917 Code of Canon Law (Can. 1251) strictly prescribes fasting and abstinence as obligations, not options for social gatherings. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas, instituted the feast of Christ the King precisely to combat the secular error that “when God and Jesus Christ were removed from laws and states… the foundations of that authority were destroyed.” The fish fry, as described, removes Christ from the season of His Passion by replacing mortification with indulgence, prayer with chatter, and the salvation of souls with the satisfaction of appetites. The “secret sauce” is not homemade tartar sauce, but the sauce of Modernism: the synthesis of all heresies that seeks to make the Church palatable to the world by stripping it of its supernatural demands.
Silence on the Supernatural: The Gravest Accusation
The most damning aspect of the article is its complete silence on the supernatural. There is no mention of:
- The forty days of penance commemorating Our Lord’s fast in the desert.
- The obligation to make reparation for sin through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
- The necessity of frequent confession to be in a state of grace.
- The ultimate end of Lent: to detach from creatures and unite the soul to God, avoiding the eternal fires of hell.
- The Passion of Christ as the central mystery to be meditated upon, not merely as a backdrop for a “good time.”
“Father” Buting’s role as a “welcome volunteer” who asks, “what would make you more eager to join the Church community?” reduces evangelization to a recruitment drive for a social club. The pre-conciliar Church, as condemned by St. Pius X in Lamentabili sane exitu (Propositions 25-26), taught that faith is assent to divine truth, not a “practical function” or a “binding in action” devoid of doctrinal content. The article’s subtext is that belonging to the parish community is an end in itself—a clear echo of the “evolution of dogmas” and the “democratization of the Church” condemned by the Syllabus of Errors (Errors 77-80) and the encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis. The fish fry is presented as a “doorway into a life of deeper participation,” but the participation is in what? In eating, drinking, and socializing—the exact opposite of the Lenten call to “deny oneself, take up one’s cross, and follow Christ” (Matt. 16:24).
Linguistic Decay: The Tone of Apostasy
The article’s tone is casual, humorous, and relentlessly upbeat, mirroring the theological decay of the conciliar sect. Phrases like “Fish Friar,” “secret sauce,” “good time,” and “vibrant crowd” create an atmosphere of festivity utterly alien to the penitential season of Lent. The “Fish Friar” costume is a particularly grotesque mockery of religious life, reducing the sacred habit to a theatrical prop for a carnival. This is the natural fruit of the “spirit of the world” that Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes embraced, which St. Pius X prophetically condemned as the “synthesis of all heresies.” The language avoids any supernatural terminology: no “sacrifice,” no “sin,” no “grace,” no “judgment,” no “eternity.” Instead, we have “community,” “camaraderie,” “outings,” and “fun.” This is the “new language” of the post-conciliar Church, where the “smoke of Satan” (as Paul VI admitted) has entered the sanctuary, turning the House of Prayer into a den of naturalistic humanism. The article’s very title, “Oh cod beyond all praising,” uses irreverent wordplay that would have been unthinkable in a pre-1958 Catholic publication, signaling a complete collapse of the sense of the sacred.
Omission of Christ’s Kingship and the Social Reign
Pius XI, in Quas Primas, established the feast of Christ the King to counter the error that “the State could do without God.” He declared that Christ’s reign extends to all human societies, and that rulers must “publicly honor Christ and obey Him.” The fish fry, however, presents a Christ who is the patron of a social club, not the King whose laws must govern every aspect of life—including the Lenten discipline. The article notes that “non-Catholics” attend and are welcomed, but there is no hint that they must convert to the one true Church to be saved. This is a practical endorsement of the indifferentism condemned by the Syllabus (Errors 15-18). The “evangelization” mentioned is reduced to casual conversation about “what would make you more eager to join the Church community?”—a far cry from the bold, uncompromising preaching of the Gospel that “all men are commanded to enter the Church” (Pius IX, Quanto conficiamur). The fish fry thus becomes a tool of the “ecumenical project” condemned in the analysis of the Fatima file: it opens the door to religious relativism by treating the Catholic parish as just one of many pleasant community centers, rather than the sole ark of salvation.
The “Pastoral Administrator” and the Collapse of Hierarchy
The article refers to “Father Stephen Buting” as a “pastoral administrator.” This title is a post-conciliar innovation, reflecting the destruction of the proper hierarchical structure of the Church. In the pre-conciliar Church, a parish was headed by a pastor with full jurisdiction from the bishop. The “pastoral administrator” is a compromise position, often used in “parish clusters” or when a true pastor is absent, reflecting the conciliar emphasis on “collegiality” and the dilution of singular authority. This linguistic shift is not neutral; it signifies the erosion of the divine constitution of the Church, where authority flows from Christ through the Pope and bishops, not through bureaucratic committees. The “Fish Friar” layman, Mike Conrad, who states, “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,” highlights the inverted priorities: the sacramental life (confession) is relegated to an afterthought, while the social ritual (drinking) is elevated. This is the fruit of the “clericalism” condemned by the conciliar sect, where laymen take on quasi-clerical roles (costumes, titles) while the true sacramental priesthood is marginalized or denied.
Economic Naturalism and the Profanation of Sacred Things
The article proudly details the economic model of the fish fries: “all-you-can-eat for $15,” “suggested donation $7,” “break even,” “not lose money.” This fixation on cost, price points, and financial sustainability is a profanation of the sacred. The pre-conciliar Church understood that sacred functions—even Lenten soup suppers—were not primarily economic ventures but spiritual exercises. The emphasis on “not losing money” and “giving away thousands of meals for free” (a charitable act, but one detached from its supernatural context) reduces the parish to a nonprofit social service agency. Pius XI, in Quas Primas, warned that when Christ is removed from public life, “the whole society profoundly shaken and heading towards destruction.” The fish fry, by making the parish’s viability dependent on its attractiveness as a cheap eatery, submits the Church to the “tyranny of economics” condemned by the Syllabus (Error 58: “all the rectitude and excellence of morality ought to be placed in the accumulation and increase of riches”). The “secret sauce” is thus the sauce of Mammon, not of the Gospel.
Symptom of the Conciliar Revolution: The “Abomination of Desolation”
This article is a microcosm of the post-conciliar apostasy. The “fish fry” has replaced the Lenten mission, the parish mission, the forty hours’ devotion, and the rigorous observance of the fast. The “community” has replaced the “Church.” The “welcome volunteer” has replaced the priest as the point of contact. The “good time” has replaced the “fear of the Lord.” This is precisely the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15), where the sacred is profaned and the supernatural is naturalized. The article’s source, The Pillar, is a product of the neo-church, and its glowing report on these events is a form of propaganda for the new religion of man. The very fact that such an article can be published without a single word of critique from a “Catholic” perspective demonstrates the depth of the Modernist infection. As St. Pius X taught in Pascendi Dominici gregis, Modernists “enter into the Church and work from within, seeking, under the pretext of love for the Church and reverence for the pastors, to draw the faithful into the errors of the sects.” The fish fry is a perfect tool for this: it keeps people within the conciliar structures while emptying Catholicism of its supernatural content.
Conclusion: A Call to Return to True Lent
The fish fries described are not Catholic traditions but conciliar innovations that serve the “ecumenical project” and the “cult of man.” They are a symptom of a Church that has exchanged the “sweet yoke of Christ” for the “easy yoke” of naturalistic humanism. The true Lenten tradition, as handed down from the Apostles and codified in the pre-1958 liturgical books, is a time of stark penance: black fasts, abstinence from all animal products (except fish), the Way of the Cross, solemn liturgies of the Passion, and intense focus on the Four Last Things. The article’s omission of these realities is not accidental; it is the necessary silence of a religion that has denied the necessity of penance for sin and the reality of eternal judgment. The “Fish Friar” in his costume is a fitting symbol: a layman playing at religion while the true priesthood is ignored, and the real purpose of the season is drowned in batter and oil. Catholics with an integral faith must reject these naturalistic frauds and observe the true, immutable Lenten discipline, which alone can make satisfaction for sin and prepare souls for the Resurrection. The “secret sauce” of these fish fries is the sauce of apostasy, and those who partake without repentance are partaking of the “table of demons” (1 Cor. 10:21), not the altar of the living God.
Source:
Oh cod beyond all praising — the secret sauce that keeps parish fish fries afloat (pillarcatholic.com)
Date: 27.02.2026