Local Knights of Columbus council served up seafood during penitential season
If it’s a Lenten Friday night in Pleasant Valley, the Knights of Columbus from Council No. 7875 will be frying — or baking, or sautéing — fish at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, maintaining a Catholic tradition that goes back centuries, or at least in the parish’s case, decades.
Once a common parish activity intended to build community during Lent for Catholics observing the Friday guideline to abstain from meat and poultry, fish fries have become harder to find. Bob Sandford, Grand Knight of Council 7875, told The Good Newsroom that at St. Stanislaus, fish have been frying there “since the 1990s.”
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The council offers its fish fry menu every Friday during Lent except Good Friday. The menu includes standard fare such as baked or fried fish, served with French fries, coleslaw, cornbread, and the pasta of the week. Then there’s the seafood special: shrimp, mussels, and other fish in a red or white sauce, served on a mountain of pasta. Discounts are available for senior citizens, veterans, and children, and families can take advantage of all-in pricing.
Parish and local community support make it worthwhile for the council to hold the event every Friday during the Lenten period, with 60 or more meals sold each week, Sandford estimated.
A community gathering place
The fish fries are an important fundraiser for the council, which in turn supports the parish. “This will go to new Christmas lights, and to help build a creche that can be stored,” Sandford said. Proceeds will also support charities, including the Knights of Columbus’ Coats for Kids initiative, the Sisters of Life, and a local food pantry.
While Sandford said that most orders in post-COVID years are takeaway, a crowd of about 40 people were gathered in the church hall by 5:45 p.m., including teenagers coming in from swim practice, retirees, and wives of the men working in the kitchen.
Among those dining on-premises was Father Michael Connolly, pastor of Church of the Holy Trinity and chaplain of Our Lady of Lourdes High School, both in Poughkeepsie. “We brought members of our youth group for Stations of the Cross, so we thought we’d come early and eat first,” he told The Good Newsroom. St. Stanislaus offers Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent.
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Casey Jaeb attended the Friday, March 13 dinner with four other members of her family, who pointed at her and said, “She brought us here!” “We’re here for family, to spend time together, for fun,” Jaeb said, stating that she attends at least one of the fish fries each year.
St. Stanislaus Kostka parish was established in 1903 by Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) priests. The current pastor is Father Karl Lindblad.
Founded in 1882 and still headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, the Knights of Columbus are the world’s largest Catholic men’s fraternal organization. Council 7875 has more than 60 members, Sandford said.