Fish fries move to takeout
On bishop’s suggestion, many parishes cook up to-go Lenten meals
Martha and Bill Stan, of Carroll County, Ohio, were visiting their stepdaughter in Mt. Lebanon on Friday and looking for a Lenten fish fry where they could sit and eat.
First they tried St. Bernard Parish, but like many Catholic parishes, it had immediately heeded Bishop David Zubik’s recommendation on Thursday that it switch to takeout only to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
But the couple kept looking and found that Ss. Simon and Jude, in nearby Scott, was serving eat-in for the last time.
“This is our last hurrah,” Ms. Stan said as the meal was brought to her table. Although dine-in crowds were lower than usual, some still wanted one last chance to enjoy the venerable fish-fry tradition as dine-in customers.
“It’s a social event,” said Ann Tarpey, as she, her husband and another couple dined in at the parish. “We do a circuit” of different fish fries each week. “Last week, we were at St. Gabriel’s.”
But next week, it’s almost certain that they’ll be dining at home.
At Ss. Simon and Jude, organizers decided to give the eat-in option one more week, but with rapidly changing news, such as declarations of emergency and statewide school closings, they decided to make this Friday’s the last for the time being.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” said Peggy Sembrat, who chairs the fish-fry committee, though she noted that customers will be disappointed. “People do like to come out.”
At St. Malachy Catholic Church in Kennedy, the customers kept coming, even though the normally bustling cafeteria was quieter without the eat-in option.
St. Malachy, which is part of Archangel Gabriel Parish, normally opens its fish fry at noon. But after 11 a.m., the customers were coming early as usual, and the volunteers filled a standing order of 80 fish sandwiches for a nearby business, said Janet Schipani, who takes the takeout orders by phone. On a typical Friday in Lent, the tables are full of eat-in customers as well.
“Elderly people, they like to come up here and talk with their friends, but they’ll have to take it home,” she said.
The team is also taking other health precautions, such as handing customers condiment packages individually rather than having them reach into buckets to get them.
Fish fries serve as both a major fundraiser and a social event that brings together members of the church and the wider community.
Churches such as St. Bernard and Our Lady of Grace in the South Hills switched immediately to takeout only.
St. Kilian Parish in Cranberry, which goes through more than 1,000 pounds of fish on a typical Friday in Lent, kept the eat-in option for this week only because it’s difficult to get the word out to everyone on short notice. But parish pastor the Rev. Charles Bober said the takeout portion of the evening fish fry has already grown each week this year, and “we expect the largest portion of our sales are going to be takeout tonight.”
That said, “if someone is there and wants to eat in, there’ll be a space for them,” Father Bober said.
But signs will be up everywhere announcing that starting next week, orders will be takeout only.
At Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church in McKees Rocks, which has a Lenten pierogi sale, the orders were coming in briskly, volunteer Carol Lipchick said. People preordered 300 dozen pierogies, and “we’ll probably do 400 dozen” by day’s end, Ms. Lipchick said. It is in a separate jurisdiction from the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and it is continuing to have space for eat-in customers, but most of the customers get takeout orders even in normal times.
Religious groups are adapting rapidly to the coronavirus spread. Bishop Zubik and other Pennsylvania Roman Catholic bishops have dispensed with Catholics’ obligation to attend Mass this weekend, but parishes will continue to offer Masses. Communion is being served in the form of bread only, without serving wine from a common chalice.
At least three large church congregations with multiple campuses will switch to online-only worship at least for this weekend: Orchard Hill Church, Bible Chapel and North Way Community Church.
“This decision was not made out of fear,” Bible Chapel Senior Pastor Ron Moore said in a video message posted on the church website. “Our trust and confidence is always in the Lord. Our decision was made rather to provide protection and safety for our church family and the communities we serve.”
Another large church, Mt. Ararat Baptist in East Liberty, said in a message to members that it is going ahead with services and has “taken every precaution that we can to ensure the church is cleaned to protect the congregation.”
Bishop Dorsey McConnell of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is giving each parish’s leaders the discretion on whether to hold Sunday worship, but he asked that at least two or three people gather for worship at each parish to maintain some prayerful presence there, and if possible to livestream it.
At least two mosques in the region, the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, in Oakland, and the Muslim Association of Greater Pittsburgh, in Richland, canceled Friday Jummah prayers, the main service of the week, through the end of March.
The Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, in Monroeville, was proceeding with Jummah prayers Friday but urging anyone who is sick or vulnerable to stay home. It’s asking anyone who has traveled internationally to wait 14 days before returning to the mosque. In Islam, “preventing harm is more important than bringing benefits,” said board member Salah Almoukamal, a primary care doctor. The center is canceling Sunday school classes and will evaluate whether to hold Jummah prayers next Friday.
These announcements follow decisions by such congregations as Ascension Anglican Church and Rodef Shalom Congregation to cancel weekend services.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints canceled worship services worldwide.
The Catholic Diocese of Greensburg postponed a men’s conference, which it anticipated would draw more than 1,000 attendees on March 21, to May 9.
At least two seminaries, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Trinity School for Ministry, are moving toward online classes for the rest of the year.
At the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, most students already take courses online, and those who take them inperson are the seminarians in residence at the North Side campus, said its rector, the Rev. Robert Pipta. Professors who teach in-person classes have the option to switch to an online format.