St John Viannay, South St Paul, MN

Our first stop on our quest for fish was at St John Viannay, a church just a mile from our house.

Now, let me give you just a little bit of my family's history before I get in to the church. When my husband and I got married, we found church we both liked. It was a contemporary Lutheran church. This is the heritage we have decided to raise our children in. Not a stained glass window in the building, no fount in the middle of the church, not even so much as a painting of Mary is in the building. Beige walls, a big cross up front and a drum set in the worship.

My children, being 7 and 3 at the time of our visit to St John's had only known this kind of a church.

Keep this in mind as I go on about our experiences.

St John's is in a nice location, lots of easy parking, and they take cash or checks, no credit cards. Once inside, we were led to a large open room (coincidently, this is where we vote now, so our kids are most used to the room) with the food. There were two kinds of fish, baked and fried, a baked potato, cole slaw, a dinner roll with butter, and assorted cookies and bars for dessert. There was milk, coffee, lemonade, and water for beverages.

The fish was good. They offered you two pieces to start but it was all you could eat as you stayed to enjoy the meal. Both kids liked the fish, one really liked the cole slaw. Of course, we all enjoyed the desserts!

I will never, ever, forget this meal. As we are sitting down to enjoy our good ol' Catholic Fish Fry, one of my daughters all of a sudden stops what she is doing and says in a loudish voice "What IS THAT!?!?!" I look up to where she is pointing, totally expecting to see some sort of bug or rodent from the tone of her voice, and, to my surprise, see a crucifix. I smiled and said, "honey, that is Jesus on the cross." She, having not taken her eyes off of it, replies "but what is all of the RED ON IT?!?!?" I look again, and sure enough, this particular crucifix in the dining hall has Jesus with blood dripping down.

Now, my children know the Easter story. They know about the crucifixion, and that Jesus died on the cross. We always read that story with the story of the resurrection so they know Jesus overcame the death on the cross and He lives! They know it, however, I am now looking back on the children's Bibles we have used over the years, and they all have a clean Jesus on the cross. I get where her shock came from.

So, there I am, in the dining hall of our local Catholic church, recounting the Easter story for not only my two wide-eyed children, but to the amusement of the elderly couple sitting behind us. Meanwhile, my fish is getting cold.

So, that is my very first experience at a Catholic Fish Fry.

Rating: Fish: 5 Trout
Side Dishes: 3 Blue Gill
Tartar Sauce: 4 Perch
Value: 5 Crappie