Posted on 03/27/2013 1:17:45 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
Catholics around the world have been celebrating the announcement of Pope Francis. Now catholics in Louisiana have one more reason to celebrate: they can eat alligator during the abstaining days of Lent.
According to NPR, the alligator was officially sanctioned as a member of the seafood group three years ago after Jim Piculas wrote a letter to Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans asking to settle a debate among his friends. The Archbishop responded saying, "Yes, the alligator's considered in the fish family, and I agree with you — God has created a magnificent creature that is important to the state of Louisiana, and it is considered seafood."
The reptile is a favorite among residents of Lousiana, especially in New Orleans, where you can find it in everything from po boy sandwiches to cheesecake at Jacques-Imo's. Because the question comes up in Louisiana every year during Lent, when Catholics around the world may eat seafood but no other meat on Fridays, Piculas posted the archbishop's letter on Facebook and it went viral.
As New Orleans is also a shrimp town, this is welcome news for Jay Nix, owner of the Parkway Bakery. During Lent, seafood orders at Parkway are high in demand, reaching 3,400 pounds of shrimp per day. He hopes news of alligator being approved as seafood will "take some pressure off of our shrimp sales."
According to NPR, the alligator was officially sanctioned as a member of the seafood group three years ago after Jim Piculas wrote a letter to Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans asking to settle a debate among his friends. The Archbishop responded saying, "Yes, the alligator's considered in the fish family, and I agree with you — God has created a magnificent creature that is important to the state of Louisiana, and it is considered seafood."
Now if only they could consider a hamburger a seafood, my Lenten Season would be much easier. lol. /sarc.
How about a burger from Water Bison?
True!!!!! That is a good question that must be asked. Do you have the Pope’s number? lol.
I saw a program about capybaras once—the largest rodent in the world, native to South America. It spends a lot of time in the water so it was declared a fish...so Catholics could eat it on Fridays (back when meat was forbidden on all Fridays, not just the Fridays in Lent).
Those crazy Cajuns! Didn’t they do the same thing with nutria some years ago?
Basically, Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays in Lent [and all Fridays].
chicken, beef, ham, turkey -- are considered meats.
Sounds like if you want eat rattlesnake, you can...
Or the Word become flesh. Who could believe that?
And for the record, the purpose is the most minor form of fasting in remembrance of the day the Lord was crucified. Tertullian wrote some interesting stuff on the practice back in 208 AD (or so).
Muskrat was considered “fish” in a few Michigan dioceses back in the ‘30s.
The distinction has always been between warm-blooded and cold-blooded. Fish and reptiles being cold-blooded are not considered true flesh. The rational is that abstaining from meat is in memorial of the flesh and blood shed by our Lord. I guess it is some form of bloodism discrimination.
I heard that the original intent of forbidding meat on Fridays and during Lent was to save the fishing industry in Italy. As such, I do not follow this convention.
Warm-blooded == meat.
Cold-blooded != meat.
Alligator == reptile == cold blooded != meat.
Nothing new about this, really. Some people who are not members of Group X like to make mountains out of Group X’s molehills.
I have heard that, too. It's malarkey. Sadly, some folks are too eager to believe malarkey about any particular Group X that they are not part of.
No one declared that flesh to be a fish or sea food.
The Greek Orthodox forbid the consumption of (vertebrate) fish AND meat during Lent. Was that to save the shellfish industry in Greece?
Little reality check: there has never, ever, not for one moment, been any requirement for Catholics to eat fish. Not on Fridays, not in Lent, not ever. The requirement is to abstain from the flesh of mammals and birds, that is, warm-blooded animals. They (that is, we) can eat fish if we want to. It's not required.
Maybe it was really to save vegetable farmers in Italy. Maybe it was to promote the invention of eggplant parmigiana. Who knows ... [sigh].
I would be happy for someone to prove it wrong. Is there any basis in Scripture for the prohibition against meat, or is it a “church” thing?
My reply was about the incarnation - the Word become flesh. Comparing them in terms of "believability." You understand this, yes?
There is no “prohibition against meat”. Such a prohibition would imply that eating meat is somehow evil, a strange notion that is completely inconsistent with Scripture.
The periodic abstinence from meat is a mild form of fasting, a practice recommended throughout at least the New Testament. The disciples are mentioned as fasting in Acts 13 & 14, in Matthew 6 Jesus tells us how (not) to behave when fasting, in Mark 9 Jesus informs us that some problems can only be dealt with through prayer and fasting.
So there ... you see that it is a Scriptural thing. This should make you happy.
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