Fired?

In my free time during the fall, I am a football official.  People often forget that and will often ask how my "coaching" is going.  I politely remind them that I am not a coach, I am an official.

But if I were a coach, I have to wonder if my job would be on the line.  In coaching, you are evaluated on your results.  Mainly, did you win more games this year than last year.  That's not a hard and fast rule, as you need to take into account injuries and a few other outside forces, but too many seasons of 7-9, 6-10, 8-8 and things start to get dicey.

Today is December 31.  I spent the afternoon running the numbers for 2013 (because I have to file the all-important Parochial Report and inquiring minds want to know).  I won't get into all the details, but the average Sunday attendance numbers for my parish over the last thee years look like this:

2011:  90
2012:  81
2013:  75

If I were a coach, that is not a track record I would want to present to my employer.

I am not a coach, and this is not a football team.  Nonetheless, if I'm wondering about it, you can be sure that there are people sitting in the pews who are wondering about it.

Happy New Year