According to informal statistics shared by one diocesan worker I know, the bigger the parish, the proportionately smaller the number of people who minister or volunteer. Of course there are exceptions, but the reality seems to be that people need to feel involved and to have ownership if they are to give generously of their time and talents. And that happens easiest when people are known individually. I believe that part of the problem, especially in larger parishes, is that the ministers don t know how to envelop the community. They have not been taught how to do this, nor have they had it modeled for them.
Ministers still struggle with how to be big enough for the size of the liturgical situation.
Maybe we need to go back a little to find an answer. I remember being taught in grade school that the intention of the priest was a very important part of the Tridentine consecration rite for the Eucharist. And I remember seeing priests focus intently on the bread and the wine as they said the words of the institution narrative. Now if we could bring that same intention to our ministry and to the transubstantiation of the whole assembly, we would be well on the way to being ministers in the full size of the reign of God. ML Lillian Hamilton is the nom de plume of a plus-size Catholic.