St. Paul’s Church Receives PETA Offer to Display Famous Fish Empathy Quilt to Inspire Vegan Lent

For Immediate Release:
February 19, 2025

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Ahead of Lent, PETA’s faith outreach division, PETA LAMBS (“Least Among My Brothers and Sisters” from Matthew 25:40), sent a letter today to Pastor Jonathan Wilson of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church offering to provide PETA’s famous and unique Fish Empathy Quilt to display to encourage parishioners to keep all animals off their plates during the Lenten season and beyond. If St. Paul’s Church—which has previously hosted a weekly Lenten “Fish Fry”—agrees to be the quilt’s next stop, PETA LAMBS will arrange for a delivery of delicious fish-free meals like tasty Gardien F’ish Filets, to be served before or after Mass.

The Fish Empathy Quilt measures more than 300 square feet and comprises more than 100 unique, handcrafted squares from kind people, including cartoonist Harry Bliss and oceanographic explorer and film producer Jean-Michel Cousteau. PETA’s quilt has made quite a splash, including a monthlong stay at Eureka City Hall in California

“PETA’s Fish Empathy Quilt beautifully reflects the awareness that fish, like humans and all other animals, are part of God’s perfect creation. He gave them thought, reason, emotional capacity, and the ability to feel pain,” writes PETA Faith Outreach Coordinator Sarah McFarlane. “It’s no more necessary to eat them on Fridays—or any other day—than it is ever to eat any other animal.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Wilson follows.

February 19, 2025

Father Jonathan Wilson

Pastor

St. Paul the Apostle Church

Dear Pastor Wilson:

Peace be with you! I’m writing on behalf of PETA LAMBS, the Christian outreach division of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters worldwide, including many hundreds of thousands in Ohio—ahead of Lent with a request that would promote compassion for all, beginning with marine animals. These sentient individuals, just like everyone else God created, deserve to be respected, and we’d love to lend a beautiful, thought-provoking item to display at St. Paul the Apostle: the world’s first and only Fish Empathy Quilt. The quilt is a vibrant, creative depiction of marine life that features more than 100 unique squares contributed by individuals, some famous, from around the globe. It consists of six sections of varying dimensions, which can be displayed separately or clipped together as one large exhibit measuring over 300 square feet. It has already made its way to various sites in the U.S. and abroad, spreading a message of kindness everywhere it goes. Would you please display it in St. Paul the Apostle?

Most of us grew up believing that killing animals for food was somehow necessary, but if we reflect, it’s plain that all killing requires violence and separating ourselves from the rest of creation by destroying part of it. In Genesis 1:29, when God says to Adam and Eve, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole Earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food,” He didn’t include any of His animals as a food source. We were created in the Lord’s loving image (Genesis 1:27), and thus, we’re called to love the world and all who live in it. Surely, Jesus’ teaching “Blessed are the merciful” (Matthew 5:7) requires our compassion for all sentient beings.

PETA’s Fish Empathy Quilt beautifully reflects the awareness that fish, like humans and all other animals, are part of God’s perfect creation. He gave them thought, reason, emotions, and the capacity to feel pain. Fish have individual personalities; they communicate with each other, show affection to those they care about, and are extremely resourceful and intelligent. It’s no more necessary to eat them on Fridays—or any other day—than it is ever to eat any other animal.

We would gladly loan the quilt to St. Paul the Apostle to encourage people to consider not eating animals for Lent and beyond, and we would be happy to offer delicious fish-free meals before or after Mass when the quilt is delivered. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours in Christ,

Sarah McFarlane

Faith Outreach Coordinator