ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local Catholic priest has found himself at the centre of an unexpected but modern liturgical quandary this Holy Week, as some parishioners seek guidance on whether consuming environmentally destructive farmed salmon is compatible with Good Friday observance.
Father Brendan Slattery of St Remienko’s in Betoota Heights said he was blindsided by the sheer volume of ethical questions flooding his inbox since yesterday’s Palm Sunday service, all centred around the ecological fallout of industrial aquaculture.
“I was prepared to talk about sacrifice and humility,” said Fr Slattery.
“Not whether a cry-vaced slab of dyed-pink fish raised in a faeces whirlpool violates the Catechism.”
Traditionally, Catholics abstain from red meat on Good Friday, with fish seen as an acceptable alternative. However, rising awareness of the environmental damage caused by salmon farming, including antibiotic use, nitrogen runoff, and mass die-offs, has left many questioning whether it still qualifies as a moral choice.
Fr Slattery says it’s a genuine dilemma, though he was quick to contrast his flock’s moral fibre with what he described as the looser appetites of our separated brethren.
“The Protestants will eat any salmon,” he said.
“If it has four legs and it’s not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Protestants will eat it. Wild salmon, farmed, smoked, dyed. If it floats or wriggles, it’s on the plate. If you dropped a raw slab of the most diseased, sickly salmon on my baptismal font, half of Hillsong Betoota would show up with lemon wedges and parking tickets ready to be validated.”
When asked for a ruling, Fr Slattery advised his congregation to seek local, sustainable alternatives.
“Just have a Filet-O-Fish and a Diet Coke like a grown up. Jesus would’ve eaten one, or he would’ve got fish and chips from Red Rooster.”
More to come.
