Nativity Catholic Church’s Men’s Club is hosting its annual fish fry to serve seafood meals to its parishioners and community throughout Lent. As part of the fasting during Lent, the community is called to fast from meat on Fridays, so the fish fry provides 500-600 fish, shrimp and pizza meals each week to encourage the fast.
“It really is an event for the parishioners to come out and have a good meal and sit and chat and get to talk to their fellow parishioners,” said Don Waters with the Men’s Club.
On Friday evenings from 4:30-7 p.m., 40-45 volunteers from three Nativity organizations serve the meals in the Social Hall for $9 for fish or pizza and $10 for shrimp. The money collected helps support the organizations and allows them to continue to give back to the Nativity parish.
“It really is a ministry of the parish. It creates a lot of fellowship among parishioners and a lot of parishioners do love it because they get to come to the Social Hall and have a meal with their fellow parishioners and friends,” explained Waters.
Each week, Nativity’s Social Hall is filled with families and their children, often students at Nativity Catholic School, who can socialize with their friends. Nativity’s congregation is given the opportunity to dine with the other members of their church community, united by the fast during the season of Lent.
Boy Scouts of America Troop 89 and Nativity’s Life Teen group assist the Men’s Club each week, serving different roles to support the event. The Men’s Club is responsible for cooking the food and collecting money from guests, the Boy Scouts serve the meals in the dining room and provide desserts and the Life Teen group assists in the kitchen by plating and preparing the cooked food.
This year’s fish fry is the first in two years after it was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus. To protect their guests, all servers and chefs are wearing gloves and face masks while handling the food. Condiments are also prepackaged to reduce sharing food items and opened bowls.
Nativity Catholic Church is located at 705 E. Brandon Blvd. and can be reached at 813-681-4608.
