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Many who come to Sunday Mass or other liturgical celebrations are not one of the formal ministers (presider, greeters, acolytes, lectors, etc.). This book is about helping everyone at liturgy understand that being there and serving one another so that liturgy is fruitful for all is a ministry. This is what we may call the ministry of the assembly.
In some respects the ministry of the assembly is the most important ministry of all because it makes visible the church, the Body of Christ, by its very gathering together as one Body. As liturgical assembly, it makes present the celebration of the paschal mystery and Christ’s ongoing mystery of salvation. Being a liturgical assembly is a privilege of our baptismal identity and the first way we live it out. The Ministry of the Assembly is a new book in the Collegeville Ministry series. Its five chapters address the being of the liturgical assembly, what the assembly does during liturgy, why being a liturgical assembly is so important, the configuration of the liturgical assembly in its own place, and a spirituality of the liturgical assembly.
Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS, is the director of the Institute for Liturgical Ministry in Dayton, Ohio and is an adjunct professor of liturgy, liturgical consultant, and frequent facilitator of workshops. She has published numerous scholarly and pastoral liturgical works. She holds civil and pontifical doctorates of theology.
