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.
“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.