The Origin of Pancake Breakfasts and Fish Dinners

In the recitation of our Creed, we Catholics profess the singularity of the tenets of our faith. The parishioner in Omaha, Nebraska received the same Baptism as his brother in Oslo, Norway. Throughout the worldwide Church, this unity in belief has created institutions within individual communities that have also become globally practiced.

Pancake breakfasts and fish dinners have their origins in the observance of the current Lent season. Catholics prepare for the Passion during Holy Week and the joy of Easter with 40 days of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. This includes sacrificing meals, certain luxuries and vices, and the abstinence from meat. In the days leading to Ash Wednesday (which by the way is not a Holy Day of Obligation as many seem to think), when Lent officially begins, monasteries, convents, and rectories, along with most Catholic homes, would empty their pantries of decadent foods like milk, flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. The best way to dispose of these items without being wasteful is to make pancakes. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, this last Tuesday before Lent is still called “Pancake Tuesday,” when people would enjoy one last feast before fasting.

Pancake breakfasts and fish dinners have provided locally-based ministries and organizations—most noticeably the Knights of Columbus—with a means to both serve abstinence-friendly meals and encourage charity in their parish; profits from these events usually benefit the less fortunate. So in remembrance of the sacrifice made for us, let us remember to make our own.