I love my work at my church. I am the faith formation coordinator. For those of you as old as I am, you might call me the CCD Director or DRE (director of religious education). I organize classes for children from kindergarten to 12th grade. I would love to organize for young adults in college also but I do not believe that my church has many of these people. You see, the average age of my church is probably 65. It might be higher.

When I first took this position, I knew that I would put in more hours than I would be paid for and I am sure that 99% of the weeks I definitely did. There were even weeks where I worked more than double my anticipated time but this is a calling so it will be that way. What I didn’t realize is that people think the job ends when classes end.

I’m currently in the middle of planning for next year, which will start in September. I am also planning at least two, maybe three, get togethers of all the students – at least all who can make it – over the summer. I tried hard to get a Vacation Bible School going but did not have any interest so we did not do that this year.

I’m also trying to keep teens, who are confirmed in eighth grade, interested through high school classes and a youth group. These all take time and during the regular school year, there is not enough hours in a week to plan these things. I could spend ten hours a week throughout the summer months just getting things in order and planning for the next year. This is time I didn’t have last year and will much better support my catechists.

Do you work in a church setting? Is your work full or part time? Do you work year round?