CNA Staff, Feb 24, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Many Catholics give up beer as part of the penitential rigors of Lent. One diocese is brewing it as part of a Lenten tradition stretching back 400 years.
The Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, has launched a beer collaboration with a local brewery to support its anti-hunger programs for the homeless.
The tradition of Lenten beer stretches back centuries. In Bavaria in the 17th century, Paulaner monks turned to a common staple of the time of their region — beer — to sustain them through their strict, no-solid-food fast during the Lenten season. Paulaner is now a global brand and is among the bestselling beers in Germany.
In the spirit of the Paulaner brewers, the Scranton Diocese on its Facebook page earlier this month shared that its “Forty Days” beer collaboration with local Breaker Brewing Company would be launching on Mardi Gras, Feb. 13.
The Forty Days beer is a doppelbock, the announcement said. A doppelbock, according to CraftBeer.com, is “reminiscent of toasted bread” and may include “dark fruit flavors such as prune and raisin,” depending on the recipe used.
The brewery created the beer in collaboration with Father Brian Van Fossen. The priest told CNA this week that he went to high school with Mark Lehman, one of the co-owners of the brewery.
“Back in November we met about the project and Mark asked me to do some research on the beer,” Van Fossen said.
“Though I thought it was a good idea, the diocese was not able to send Mark and me to Munich to do research on beer, so I went to the computer,” he joked.
“I discovered a doppelbock beer which was rooted with the Paulaner brothers in Munich, Germany,” he said. “The beer consisted of strong grains and an interesting mixture of hops and barley, which provided a strong nutrient content.”
The priest said the beer was originally developed as part of the “strict fast of the Paulaner monastery.” The beer “celebrates the history of the Doppelbock beer style and its ties with the Lenten season,” the press release announcing the beer said.
Breaker Brewing is located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes outside of Scranton. The beer collaboration is meant to help fund the diocese’s “Rectory, Set, Cook!” program to help feed homeless people.
The diocese announced the launch of that program in 2021. It was billed at the time as Scranton’s “first-ever, all-virtual, cook-off-style fundraiser,” one taking the form of “a friendly online showdown among more than 25 priests.”
“Participating parish priests are starring in individual videos showcasing a favorite recipe or recipes and counting on their flocks and friends far and near to show their support by making monetary donations as small as $10,” the diocese said. “Each $10 donation will represent one vote for a pastor chef or team.”
All proceeds of the fundraiser go to local anti-hunger efforts by Catholic Social Services, including the local St. Vincent de Paul Kitchen “as well as food pantries and programs across the CSS footprint.”
The diocese continued the program for a third year, and the contest this year took the theme “Collars and Scholars,” with “some of the priests [being] assisted by Catholic school students and other young people.”
Sandy Snyder, the director of foundation relations and special events at the Diocese of Scranton, said that upon launching the program the diocese “considered it experimental and hoped to raise $50,000 to call it a success.”
“We hit $50,000 pretty quickly, and the momentum just kept going,” she said. “We finished at $171,697 raised in our first year. So we knew there would be a Rectory, Set, Cook! 2023.”
“Last year, we finished at $197,313,” she said. “So this is the year we hope to make Rectory, Set, Cook! a six-figure fundraiser times two and raise more than $200,000, which is important because we’ve added homelessness as a second benefiting cause.” The diocese is focused on building a brand-new permanent shelter in Luzerne County, she said.
Lehman, the co-owner of the brewery, told CNA that the beer was brewed using “Pilsen, Munich, and melanoidin malts with Hallertau hops to balance out the sweetness.”
“Notes of this medium-brown-hued malty sweet delight is that of toasted bread, slight caramel/toffee, with hints of raisins throughout,” he said.
“The beer was one of the top sellers since its release, competing with another one of our beers for the top slot each day,” Lehman said. “Although we made quite a bit, I believe at this rate, we may not have enough to make it through the 40 days.”
Van Fossen confirmed that the beer is selling “like Lenten fish dinners.” Buyers have ordered the drink from as far away as Maine, he said, allowing the diocese to direct considerable funds to its homeless program.
“All we need to do is look to the cross,” the priest said. “So if the joy of Lent can be found in a beer while feeding the hungry and giving shelter to the homeless, I think God is being glorified in all things.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
What a gift!
The ready,set,cook is a knockoff of the original cooks with collars in the diocese of Allentown pa…neighbors to the south of Scranton…
All for good causes & celebrates the good side of our priesthood in Christ!
Early morning when a young soldier guarding an ammo dump in a Bavarian forest two rugged looking Germans passed by carrying heavy fresh cut timber on their shoulders, likely for wood stoves. We exchanged hellos, impressed by their strength asked them what they had for breakfast. Beer they smilingly responded. Beer in Southern Germany is a food. Brewed strong and tasty. During Lent usually a doppelbock, or the less heady Paulaner brew. Of course here in the States the Lenten beer sales to assist the poor, not with beer, rather needed goods is a different reality.
A history of Paulaner beer. Beer of the sacred father. Towards the end of the 1620s, Minim friars [not monks] from the order of Saint Francis of Paola arrived in Munich from the south of Italy. They settled to the east of the city, on the banks of the Auer Mühlbach, a branch of the Isar river, and beneath a hill now known as Nockherberg. It was a poor part of town where the small population mostly farmed and fished.
The Paulaner monastery gained brewing rights in 1634 but they were only supposed to brew for their own consumption, something they clearly ignored because in the year they began brewing, a letter was signed by some of Munich’s private brewers complaining how the Paula Monastery were giving away or selling their beer. On April 2nd 1651 the Paulaner friars celebrated the Feast Day of their founding father, Saint Francis of Paola, and served a Sankt-Vaters-Bier [Beer of the Sacred Father]. They drank the beer themselves and also served it to local citizens. At the following year’s Feast Day celebration they served a special beer again. And again the next year, and it continued every year after that, with the Feast Day becoming an important local event (Mark Dredge).