From the Editor

Thus began the flyer from St. Alphonsus Catholic Church (where I am organist) to entice people to make an appointment to have their photo taken for the new church photo directory.

The “end” referred to is November 2, the deadline for photo appointments. St. Alphonsus has over 1,000 families registered, but this project, which began September 17, has seen only 202 families complete their photos. Forty-nine more families are scheduled.

Our priests have urged participation from the pulpit (or ambo, as we call it) and sign-up sheets are available in the Narthex.

UUs, and in fact just about every denomination, like to think that they are especially unique. And in truth, they are, in that every congregation is unique, just as every person is unique.

But churches do have much in common, and convincing people to do more than show up for the worship service is a problem in every denomination. On September 21, Fr. Joshua pointed out in his homily that the average level of active congregational involvement in U.S. Catholic churches is about 15 per cent. I think St. Alphonsus is above this level, but just as in all churches, I see the same people doing jobs, and the Sunday bulletin is full of messages exhorting everyone to participate.

On September 14 the church sponsored a “ministry fair” after Masses to encourage people to sign up for committees. (Their term “ministry” is akin to our term “committee.”) People were issued 3x5 cards to take around with them to the various tables as they learned about and signed up for “ministries,” and everyone received a sticker on their card for each sign-up, and prizes were given for acquiring lots of stickers. (Of course, we all realize that collecting stickers is not the same thing as attending meetings and actually doing committee work.)

At the end of his homily, Fr. Joshua told this story, which is found unattributed on the Internet:

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Susan Pratt tells a familiar story about churches here: http://www.uui.org/uueye/president.php (Ask her who the little girl was in the church she discusses.) When churches are small, just about everyone participates in everything. Then when growth comes, people get busy and tend to assume that someone else will do the work. The devil’s advocate is forced to ask: Is such growth a benefit or a curse?

Naturally, we don’t want this to happen at UUI. Contact your Leadership Fulfillment Committee members to see if they can find a job for you. (Hint: the Caring Committee could use some willing and helpful people.)

Two more sayings are appropriate here: Many fingers make light work, and Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

Keep the devil out of UUI—volunteer!