Is a seal a fish?

February 2024

We’ve often heard that none less than the Pope, or a pope, or the Bishop, or a bishop, decreed that seals were fish – not meat – opening a food source for Newfoundland Catholics during Lent and for Good Friday during a hungry time of year. But is it true? The Church, and other entities, have reclassified various foodstuffs for various reasons, It’s still a month or so out from Good Friday (March 29); good time to ponder this question and perhaps organize another favourite option.

(Image: Seals on the Rocks, by Albert Bierstadt)

Non-FictionCanada 150

Seeing Through Glass, Plastic and Ice

BY Matthew Hollett

When I signed up for my first photography class in art school, my dad rummaged around in the basement and placed a heavy leather case in my hands. I unbuckled it to find his old 35mm camera, a Zenit EM. It had an enormous dent above the lens, as if it had deflected a bullet, and its selenium light meter, mysteriously, did not require batteries.