LENT IS A 40-DAY SEASON of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday.
Many symbols and traditions surround the Lenten season. One tradition is the abstaining of meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday during Lent. Abstinence from meat is a form of penance many Catholics practice to unite themselves with Christ’s suffering on the cross and grow in their spiritual discipline. At parishes across the Diocese of Orange, the Lenten dinner or Fish Fry is a popular tradition following attendance at their churches’ Stations of the Cross devotion.
A MEMBER OF ST. CECILIA’S VIETNAMESE EUCHARISTIC YOUTH MINISTRY SERVES FOOD DURING A LENTEN DINNER HELD ON MARCH 14. PHOTO BY STEVEN GEORGES/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
St. Cecilia parish has a long and proud history of providing Lenten dinners to its faithful after attending one of its three Friday evening Station of the Cross offerings. St. Cecilia offers Stations of
the Cross at devotions at 5 p.m. in English, 6 p.m. in Spanish and 7 p.m. in Vietnamese. The devotions are followed by a Lenten dinner starting at 5:30 p.m.
On Friday evening, March 14, St. Cecilia provided a sanctuary from the steady rain, allowing all parishioners to come together for a warm meal. Each Lenten dinner is sponsored by one of the various ministries or groups in the parish. Although fish is typically a staple of these meals, different cultures can add specific items to give the meal a traditional flair.
The sponsor group for the March 14 dinner was the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Ministry (VEYM). This group has 14 chapters across the Diocese. The St. Cecilia chapter has 160 members, ranging in age from 7 to 18. The group was established at St. Cecilia on Dec. 25, 1981, with an appropriate name of Emmanuel. The evening’s menu consisted of shrimp with tofu and vegetables served over white rice accompanied by fruit, cookies and water.
Michelle Tran, St. Cecilia Chapter President, fondly remembered her Lenten dinners growing up.
“I recall coming into the parish hall and smelling the wonderful aroma of steamed fish,” she said. “This motivated me to attend the Stations and the Cross and Lenten dinners.”
Other VEYM group leaders also shared their memories of past Lenten dinners.
John Nguyen, who started with VEYM in elementary school, recalled, “I enjoyed building connections and relationships with other communities within the parish,” he shared.
Vivian Vu summed up her fondest Lenten memory, saying, “Today and tonight are very special. The entire group worked together, with some members starting at 9 a.m., to set up and prepare for the event. We are like one big family working together.”
Lenten dinners across the Diocese offer various ministry groups the opportunity to take a leadership role in their parish. In the case of VEYM and St. Cecilia, the Stations of the Cross and Lenten dinner were combined with an additional event entitled “Sin No More.”
According to Tran, “This event was deliberately attached to the Lenten Dinner as an opportunity to give back to the community and unite all of the different St. Cecilia groups together.