“Women seem to be more religious than men. Are they more active in our parishes?”

According to the National Pastoral Life Center, 82% of lay ministers in the Catholic Church-Eucharistic ministers, catechists, musicians, and other minis­ters-are women. In times past, women might have been freer to volunteer at Church since they were less inclined to work full time outside the home.

Does this mean women are more religious? I hope not. I hope the men in our Church are just as religious and spiritual. But the imbalance in actual participa­tion means the Church needs to go out of its way to do things that will nourish men spiritually.

Retreats, Bible studies, social groups, and other activities geared specifically toward men are a great step. The Knights of Columbus have done a wonderful job of spiritually nurturing men and getting them involved in the Church.

As a Church, we need to support all ministers by providing education and oth­er training so that everyone, men as well as women, will be active participants in our parish communities.