By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent

Church classroom space in short supply

HUDSON -- As parishes grow, and new families move over from the Twin Cities, one of the more pressing needs becomes educating the many additional children that become part of the parish community.

Some St. Croix County parishes, most notably Immaculate Conception in New Richmond, find that this need overtaxes the available space for religious education sessions.

In New Richmond, families moving into the community have older children. That means that while the parish school hasn't seen a big hike in enrollment, the religious education program, which deals in part with older children, has seen significant growth -- and growing pains.

One look at the filled-to-the-brim playground equipment before Wednesday sessions, which has a child in every nook and cranny, can attest to that.

The growth means a lack of space, with some classes that have many more children than is ideal, said coordinator Kim Palmer. A few sessions for up to 10 people are crammed into upstairs rooms at St. Mary School that are not much larger than big bathrooms.

A result of the class sizes is that some catechists, who usually don't have as much training as full-time teachers, may have trouble keeping discipline among the children in their sessions.

The busy people in the parish may not have the time they'd like to volunteer for such tasks. Having religion sessions at two different times on Wednesday, and also on Sunday, is vital to give these time-crunched people options.

"It's a challenge getting the knowledge and resources to them," Palmer said. Other education needs also have beckoned, such as those for adult enrichment and outreach ministries.

Palmer said she's worked hard for a long time to build a very competent staff, and that especially with future growth, it will be important to keep that going to promote continuity.

St. Patrick Church also has opened for family-based religious education. However, youth minister Darin Wald says all the new subdivisions being built toward the central part of St. Croix County are having an impact. They're filled with people serviced by St. Patrick's, he said, and it's getting tougher for the city and rural folk to hook up for Wednesday night sessions.

Most of the growth had been seen at the elementary grade level, as families with young children move into the area, Wald said. While there have been 70 youth in the religious formation program, all the freshman and sophomore grade levels, there were only 50 at the 12th grade level. Meanwhile, there were more than 100 confirmed, a sacrament that occurs in the 11th grade after ongoing preparation.

"I doubt that we will see many smaller classes anymore," Wald said. The parish school in Hudson has more students who want to attend than space available, and this has prompted a capital campaign to fund a large addition to the school that would include several new classrooms.

St. Bridget in River Falls uses the family-based program to allow whole families to come together and give parents the primary role in formation of their children. Fr. Gerald Harris, pastor, said that for people who have time constraints -- and in many cases an hour's commute to boot -- this is a good fit (for a number of reasons).

"The traditional model works fine for some, but for us it just didn't work anymore," he said.

The main program area that's getting added space at the new St. Joseph Church and parish center in Amery, which is now being built, is the education center, which takes up almost one-third of the construction area.

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