by Ethan McCarthy
Do you know what Dean Jordan means when he talks about Lent? While the ancient practice may not be present in all denominations, there are some, namely Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Orthodox, along with some former members of these denominations and many other students who desire to follow this traditional Christian season of penance, abstinence, and fasting.
When I first came to Houghton, I expected that it would be easy to maintain this practice of my faith, namely the exclusion of all meat on Fridays throughout Lent, with the exception of fish and other seafoods, such as shrimp. However, the dining hall did not make this easy, with the poor selection of products that do not include meat being restricted to salads, cheese pizza, and the miniscule vegan section. Often this results in students not receiving enough protein. Think of the athlete that only has those options on game day. Does anyone really think that would go well? “It’s really hard as an athlete to not have any protein on what are typically game days when I’m in-season. Even if fish or seafood of some sort was offered at lunch and not necessarily dinner on Fridays, it would allow those who observe Lent to get some much-needed protein in their systems prior to competing in the afternoons…it is offered enough in the dining hall already that simply aligning those days with Fridays seems reasonable,” says Jackson Medeiros, a sophomore pitcher on the Houghton baseball team.
The realization of this fact was very disappointing to a number of students who observe Lent, including myself. I thought that a Christian university which claims to be open to students of a variety of different traditions, which claims on the What We Believe page that this diversity has led to “wonderful and sometimes heated discussions across campus, in classrooms, and in the coffee shop!” would not make it difficult for members of the Christian family to observe their traditions. But sadly, with the current meal setup, they have made it a challenge nonetheless.
Thinking about it, Houghton does serve fish, shrimp, and other hearty meal options that would be perfect for those observing Lent, but despite years of asking, Metz has refused to make a change to help these students in their faith journeys. Even McDonald’s, a secular company, created the Filet-O-Fish to provide food to those observing Lent. It does not sound all that radical to me: take the fish or shrimp that are served throughout the week and serve them on Fridays instead. Even something like pierogies and those mini pretzels would work (something I would certainly enjoy). Of course, there was shrimp served on a recent Friday for supper, but this has not been a common occurrence, since lunch that day did not have a Lenten meal as well, even though there was fish served on Monday and Thursday that could have been served on Friday instead. A Metz employee told me that there is a five-week schedule of meals, and considering Lent lasts for 6 weeks, it is certainly possible for this to be properly planned ahead of time.
When speaking with other students, there has been confusion towards the actions of Metz and the university and compassion shown towards those observing Lent. “It seems like a reasonable expectation that Metz would make the requested accommodation for students engaging in this spiritual practice,” says Gabe Huizenga, a Theology major.
Houghton certainly has a strong community (yes, I said the magic word) of students and staff that supports the different Christian traditions that are present at this university, so this is not a knock at them, but simply a request for Metz and the university to help students accommodate their religious traditions.
For years students have put up comments on the suggestion board and asked if Metz would provide accommodations for them over Lent. Though the Metz employee mentioned above has brought this up with Metz themself and claims that they seem open to the change, I also brought up the issue at the Student Council meeting on Monday, and they assured me that they will bring the situation up with Metz as well. However, I was also told not to expect a change from Metz. While I hope that is not the case, I would not be surprised if nothing were to change, though I am immensely thankful that the student council was willing to bring this up to support members of the student body.
If there is fish served today, then that will be a welcome surprise, even though this is a day of exemption from the season for Catholics because of the Feast of Saint Patrick. If that is the case, then I am very happy to have seen it occur two weeks in a row, but I hope that this can be applied throughout all of Lent in the future so that students can more easily live out their faith traditions on campus. ★
