From the Packing House Restaurant in Milwaukee.

The WI fish fry. A Lenten escape? Far more important.

Today’s read is from Salena Zito, a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. The obligatory tease:

In much of America, Catholic parishes are not alone in doing the fish fry. Nor is it exclusively Catholics who attend them.

At the Elks last Friday, there were Baptists, Methodists, Jews, Evangelical Protestants and agnostics. It wasn’t just different religious affiliations, either. Every race and age was represented, from the high school junior to the great-grandmother who bonded with her after discovering the teenager competitively swam with one of her grandsons.

Phil Bujakowski, a longtime member of the community and the Elks, pointed to the room packed with people, all enjoying a great meal and each other while a banjo quartet kept the mood upbeat. “This is where the magic happens,” he said.

Read the entire column here.