Fishermen against calls for return to ‘fish on Fridays’ ascetic practice

FISH is good for your soul and you should eat it daily — not just on a Friday, according to the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation in Donegal.

Speaking in response to calls from Catholic bishops in England and Wales for a return to penitential fasting on Fridays, the organisation’s vice-president Martin Howley said he hopes consumers will continue to see fish as a healthy, tasty daily option rather than going back to seeing it as a once-a-week obligation.

Though formally abandoned by Catholics in 1985, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has called for a revival of the old fish on Fridays ascetic practice, observed by Catholics for thousands of years.