C & Es

While wandering in Emergent Village I stumbled across a link to an interesting column by Marianne Mead Ward in in the Toronto Sun. While there's several interesting comments about the Emergent Church - of which I consider our Emmaus Way community to be attempting to be - it was her opening question that struck me most:

It's that time of year when churches try to woo the "seasonal" believers -- those folk who go to church only once a year, maybe twice, including Easter. I'm not sure whether this is a phenomenon experienced in other faiths -- do some Muslims go to the mosque only during Ramadan? Do some Jews only show up in the synagogue for Hannukah?

Growing up, my church called them "C & Es" - as in folks who only came to church on Christmas and Easter. It was a mixed blessing for a young'un like me - they packed the pews which made the likelihood of sitting next to a stranger and not being able to squirm much both highly likely... but they also ensured that any message was not too long and not too controversial. My favorite part for a few years was that the words to songs were printed in the bulletin, rather than sung from hymnals. The whole skipping lines thing was pretty confusing to me as I was beginning to read.

Anyway, I digress. Is there a Muslim or Jewish equivalent of C & Es? I wonder.