Laugh if you will...

I know Jambo has no time for ideas that stem from other parishes besides his own, but here's what I have seen done at Nativity BVM in NEPA...

The last weekend of CCD registration is conducted immediately outside the Church exit, after each and every Mass. You cannot avoid the table, and the teachers and volunteers at the tables make sure they have your undivided attention. While you are signing up your children for their classes, our former pastor (a Navy chaplain named Father Steve, who was re-deployed to Afghanistan... that's why he's our former pastor) would question those he thought might make good "volunteers" to assist and back-up the teachers he already had.

When you think about it, the parents of many of these kids have nothing else to do for the hour or so that the kids are in class. How difficult would it be to get even 6 or 7 individual parents to "volunteer" to stay to assist for the first couple of classes? The aim here is to find the 1 or 2 of these parents that LIKE the work, or find the challenge exciting, or (God willing) hear the calling to an educational ministry within the parish. Not everyone is going to work out, or even want to help... but it is one more way to get those unwilling to even try to step up and see what is involved, even if it is for one or two classes.

Now, not every one of the parents that show an interest in the effort will be able to commit to an every-Sunday schedule beyond the Sunday obligation... but if they stay even marginally involved, or show a depth of knowledge in a particular area of education (say, Church history or the Liturgy), then it is one more person within a "group" of parishioners that can be called upon to fill in a gap in the schedule... even if it is only presenting a prepared lesson.

Now, Father Steve got some ribbing for his rather "draconian" efforts to fill spots all over the parish, from the Alter Society to the CCD corps of teachers... but he got them filled. So well, in fact, that by the time I got to the parish, they didn't need any more teachers!

As a former member of the Cathedral's CCD program that Jambo is so involved with, no program could benefit MORE from an aggressive effort to recruit assistance from the parish than the one Jambo is referring to. Why not get MJ and the rest to present the idea to Father Tony? Have everyone camp out after a Mass to try and recruit some additional help... not everyone will stay, and not all will work out... but isn't it worth the effort if you find even one that will stay and does work out?