Erie's fish dinners remain popular during Lent

There are many choices in the Erie region for fish dinners Friday night, and over the next several Fridays.

Christopher Millette @ETNMillette

If you gave up meat for Lent, or if you just like a good fish dinner, you have plenty of options Friday night.

Many Erie-area churches offer fundraiser dinners on Fridays during Lent. The Catholic Church teaches that people should perform some form of penance during Lent, including abstaining from meat on Fridays.

Last week at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Edinboro, volunteers from the church's Knights of Columbus group made dinners for about 200 patrons. They were served by volunteers from Camp Notre Dame in Fairview Township.

The church will hold five fish dinners during this Lenten season, each one benefitting a different charity. On March 2 it was Camp Notre Dame, a summer camp sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Erie.

"(The fish dinners are) our big fundraiser for the year," said George Lander, one of the organizers, who also fries the haddock fillets in the church kitchen. "Anything for an organization is worth it, even though it is a lot of work."

Barb Caldwell appreciates the effort. She and her family tucked into their plates of fried or baked fish, with assorted sides of green beans, baked potatoes and mac-and-cheese. And they're not even Catholic.

"We just like fish dinners," Caldwell said. "We check all the churches out. As long as there's fish, I'm good."

Christopher Millette can be reached at 870-1712 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ETNMillette.

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