Bubba lived in a small town where everybody knew everybody’s business.

Every Friday during Lent, his Catholic neighbors cooked fish, ate quietly, and tried to follow the rules. But right around dinner time, Bubba would fire up his grill, and the smell of sizzling venison steaks would drift across the whole neighborhood.

It drove them crazy.

Finally, one of the neighbors called the priest and said, “Father, you have to do something. Every Friday, Bubba is out there grilling deer meat, and the smell is tempting everyone.”

The priest thought about it and went to Bubba’s house.

“Bubba,” he said kindly, “why don’t you become Catholic? That might solve the problem.”

So Bubba agreed. He went to classes, learned the prayers, attended Mass, and finally, during the ceremony, the priest sprinkled holy water over him and said, “You were born a Baptist, raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic.”

The neighbors were relieved.

But the next Friday evening, the smell of grilled venison filled the air again.

Furious, they called the priest, who rushed straight to Bubba’s backyard.

There stood Bubba beside the grill, holding a small bottle of holy water. He sprinkled it carefully over the meat and said,

“You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but now you is a catfish.”