Coping with Lent

I’m Lutheran, a faith practice which grew out of an attempt to reform the Catholic Church, but which ended up forming a new religion that, on a small scale, looks a lot like Catholicism. (On a large scale, it’s very different from Catholicism, but that’s not the long-winded lecture I wish to give here). This means that I’m allowed nearly all the fun of being Catholic — the fancy robes, the liturgy, the celebrations of various saints — without the (in my opinion) punishing obligations that come with that faith practice. In other words, I can celebrate the saints of my choice, but I don’t have to show up at church to do it, nor do penance when I don’t. The practice of giving up something for Lent is perhaps the most notable proof that this is true: many, many Lutherans give something up for Lent, but there’s never been a church-wide, Pope-given prescription that we do so.

Where I live, in Western Pennsylvania, you feel the impact of Lent even if you’re not Catholic, or a Catholic-adjacent brand of Protestantism. Around here, almost everyone is Catholic-adjacent, actually. It’s hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t make fish or seafood of some kind their Friday lunch and dinner special. Even though it’s no longer required that Catholics eschew meat on Fridays — once a firm rule — many people still choose to do so. Fish frys abound too, with many Catholic churches (as well as community organizations, and at least one renegade Lutheran church in my hometown) offering fried fish, homemade perogies, and other ethnic/non-meaty dinner treats to eat in the church’s rec hall or to take…