Like Denver couple, more married couples becoming church volunteers

Published: 2004-11-16

SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) -- Before Mary Frances and Bill Jaster were married 25 years ago, they had talked about doing some kind of service work in the church. It turned out those discussions weren't just talk either. Because as Bill Jaster, who directs Colorado Vincentian Volunteers with his wife, put it: "We've been in ministry since we got married." The couple, who first worked in youth ministry in the Denver Archdiocese, also went to Central America with a Catholic Worker group for a year with two of their children. For the past 10 years they have directed Colorado Vincentian Volunteers, working directly with full-time volunteers who live in a community together during their year of service in various Denver programs. The Jasters are hardly alone in their dedication to church ministry as a couple. According to a survey released Nov. 11 by the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service, there has been a 44 percent increase in the past year in the number of married couples serving as volunteers and a 119 percent increase in the number of couples with dependent children who are volunteering. The Jasters were in Silver Spring Nov. 11-14 for a national conference of the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service.

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