HESBURGH LECTURE SERIES 2013 Program - Alumni Association ...

Rev. Michael S. Driscoll, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Theology
Biography
Michael Driscoll is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Helena in Montana and associate
professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, as well as the founding director of the
Master’s Program in Sacred Music (MSM). His scholarly interests are in the area of liturgy and
sacramental theology. Driscoll has published a book entitled Alcuin et la penitence a l’epoque
carolingienne, LFQ 81 (Munster: Aschendorff Verlag, 1999) and numerous articles in journals
such as Worship, Ecclesia Orans, and Traditio. He has served for many years as convener of the
study group in Medieval Liturgy for the North American Academy of Liturgy, of which he was
president (2002-03). He also is a member of the international ecumenical association, Societas
Liturgica, to which he was elected a member of the executive council (2002-08). Driscoll has
served as an advisor to the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, a standing committee of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. Recently, he was elected an officer and president-elect of the
Catholic Academy of Liturgy (2010-12).
Lectures
Categories
Art/Architecture, Church,
Spirituality
The Art of Celebrating Eucharist: Implementing the New Translation of the Roman Missal
The American bishops spoke eloquently in the 2008 document Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship, when they declared,
“Faith grows when it is well expressed in celebration. Good celebrations can foster and nourish faith. Poor celebrations may
weaken it” (par. 5). What prophetic words! And the experience of celebrating the rites well has not been lost on the people. But
the bishops’ statement begs the question as to what constitutes “good celebrations.” What criteria are available by which one can
judge whether a liturgical celebration is good or bad? Is it determined by the style of music or by the quality of preaching? Is good
liturgy simply a matter of following rules? If good celebrations were simply a matter of following rules, sometimes called a rubrical
approach, then there would be good liturgy everywhere. But good celebrations require more than simply coloring within the lines.
Good celebrations require an artful sense.
The Eucharist as the Embodiment of Love
Following the 2005 Synod of Bishops dealing with the Eucharist, Pope Benedict XVI penned an apostolic exhortation titled The
Sacrament of Charity (2007). Drawing upon this document, this lecture discusses the Eucharist as a mystery to be believed, a
mystery to be celebrated, and a mystery to be lived.
Music as Mystagogy: Catechizing Through the Sacred Arts
“Take heed that what you sing with your mouths, you believe in your hearts, and what you believe with your hearts, you show
forth in your works.” These words from the fourth century Council of Carthage remind us to pay attention to what we sing, since
singing hymns and psalms will influence, for good or bad, what we believe. This lecture looks at the role of music, as well as the
other sacred arts, in forming our Christian beliefs. How do the liturgical arts impart that deep-felt knowledge of head and heart
and faith, the knowledge that nurtures whole human persons and inspires a knowing from the inside out?
The Hesburgh Lecture Series, 2013 Program 33