At Lenten fish fries, St. Louis parishes cook up plans to reduce waste

EarthBeat Weekly
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March 13, 2026

A parishioner at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in Webster Groves, Missouri, places a compostable food container into a compost bin during a Lenten fish fry. Holy Redeemer was one of 15 parishes in the St. Louis Archdiocese to receive a grant to help reduce waste at the Friday meatless meals. (Jamie Hasemeier)

Lent and fish fries. Fish fries and Lent.

For many U.S. Catholics, they just go together.

The Friday night gathering at parishes was the subject of an article I reported today at EarthBeat on a new grant program in the St. Louis Archdiocese that has sought to reduce the waste that is so common when attempting to feed hundreds, and in a few cases upwards of 1,000, people in one night.

In my reporting, I came across what is likely a common situation that has faced other Catholics trying to make sustainable changes at their parish.

For the green team at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Valley Park, Missouri, any changes to the fish fry — including what plates, cups and cutlery it uses — had to go through the parish's Knights of Columbus chapter, which ran the fry.

The experience at Sacred Heart offered a case study in the challenges of implementing sustainable steps in a parish.

A quick summary: The green team asked for reusable plates. The Knights were skeptical, worried they couldn't keep up the cleaning or handle the additional work. (They were right.) The green team pivoted, asking instead for compostable plates and real silverware instead of plastic cutlery. The Knights hesitated, worried how added costs might eat into revenues generated by the fish fries, which serve as the main fundraiser for their charitable causes.

Ultimately, though, they worked things out. The green team sourced silverware themselves from area thrift stores, and the cost savings from not buying plastic utensils made the compostable plates more affordable. Just as important, the green team offered to arrange volunteers to prep and wash the silverware at the fish fries, and later to bus tables to ensure compostable items and food made their way into the proper bins. That offer of assistance was a key breakthrough — and something the green team didn't initially propose.

"We felt like we were being preached to a little bit," Bob Hock, the Knight in charge of the fish fry, told me. "Sounds kind of harsh, but the green team was saying, 'Well you should really do this, and you should do that,' and at that time, they were not really offering any of their assistance to help us."

Karen DuBrucq, who leads the green team, acknowledged much the same. Now, the two parish groups coordinate closely and Hock and DuBrucq have shared their story at the archdiocese's Laudato Si' summit and consulted other parishes, too.

Both said there was never hostility between the sides — many are friends and part of other parish groups with each other — and they've learned to work together along with the importance of more openly considering the perspective and motivations of the other side.

"I think initially both the green team in our parish and the Knights both were just not as open-minded as we should have been," Hock said, "that we can do both, and we should be doing both," referring to implementing sustainability measures and saving costs.

"If you're open-minded enough, and you are creative enough, you can adopt a lot of these [sustainability] efforts without having to sacrifice your fundraising ability, which was really the big concern that a lot of our Knights had initially," he continued. "But we've adopted a lot of these things, and we continue to raise more money. Every year, our fish fries become more popular, but we're actually spending less on a lot of these [items], you know, plastic cutlery that used to just get thrown in the trash. So we're not buying those things."

What else is new on EarthBeat:

Black farmers in Deep South see hope in Edmundites' farming aid, grant program

by Simone Orendain, OSV News

The fledgling Catholic farming program of the Edmundite Misisons has distributed $78,000 to 19 farmers in central Alabama to assist with farming supplies including seeds, piping for irrigation and cold storage.

What's happening in other climate news:

How war in Iran could remake the global energy landscape —Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman for The New York Times

Wealthy nations pledge record release of emergency oil reserves in a bid to calm surging prices —Samuel Petrequin and Kirsten Grieshaber for the Associated Press

Air pollution spikes as Trump doubles down on coal power —Sean Reilly for E&E News

Civil rights case probes racism behind Cancer Alley pollution —Sharon Kelly for DeSmog

After a decade of missteps, a Texas city careens toward a water-shortage catastrophe —Dylan Baddour for Inside Climate News

Illinois to data centers: Bring your own renewables and skip the line —Kari Lydersen for Canary Media

The planet is overheating. Why is the news looking away? —Kate Yoder for Grist

Final Beat:

Has your parish attempted to reduce the waste at its Lenten fish fries or other large gatherings? Did it go smoothly or were there roadblocks along the way?

Drop me a note at broewe@ncronline.org with what you tried, what's worked and what hasn't.

As always, thanks for reading EarthBeat.

Brian Roewe
Environment Correspondent
National Catholic Reporter
broewe@ncronline.org