Worship Times

Stewardship

What is the value of your volunteers? Charles Zech, Patrick McNamara, and Dean Hoge report in the February 8 issue of AMERICA about their analysis of the amount of time parishioners give to their parish. According to the authors, the value of that time can be calculated in two ways. Either the number of hours can be figured at the same rate at which the volunteer would be paid at his or her regular job, or the number of hours can be figured at the rate at which the parish would have to pay to hire someone to do the work.

Using the first method, the authors determined that the "annual value of volunteer time per household" was $521 for Catholics. It was $1,188 for Southern Baptists and $940 for Lutherans.

Using the second method, Catholics came in at $290, Baptists at $895 and Lutherans at $588.

The article goes on to suggest ways in which parishes might get more volunteers and more volunteer time in their communities.

Vatican On-line

If you had been hoping to connect to the new and improved Vatican Web site by now, be patient. The Webmasters in Rome are having a little trouble getting their vast archives programmed into their three new, powerful computers (named Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael) which will run the Web site.

The current Web site is now out of service but it will be resurrected in its new garb sometime around Easter. The site will contain encyclicals, apostolic letters, and speeches from the pope. A search engine will also be available so users won't have to rely on divine intervention to find what they're looking for. Once the site is up and running, wing your way to http://www.vatican.va.

Custody of the Hands

"I don't like it," says Mary Margaret Carberry about holding hands during the Lord's Prayer at Mass. "I have nothing against holding hands to pray if you want. It's being forced into it that's bothersome," the Chicago poet and essayist writes in the February 1997 issue of U.S. Catholic. Most readers don't seem to agree with her, however. When the magazine asked, 55 percent of them agreed with the statement "I welcome hand-holding at Mass." However, about a third did not welcome hand-holding. Sixty two percent of U.S. Catholic readers thought "it is appropriate to tell the person next to you at Mass that you would prefer not to hold hands to pray."