Share this story


 |

Diocesan Priest Chosen to Be a Member of New Liturgical Leadership Program

Father Justin Ward Set to Join the Mathis Liturgical Leadership Program

For the past fifty years, the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy (NDCL) at the McGrath Institute for Church Life has been an institution committed to responding to the changing needs of the Church. In the summer of 2022, the NDCL will renew its commitment to that mission by launching The Mathis Liturgical Leadership Program (MLLP), aiming to educate and form church leaders. Father Justin L. Ward, S.T.L., of the Diocese of Birmingham was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort.

From 2022-2024, the NDCL’s focus will be on fostering a Eucharistic culture in parishes, schools, and dioceses as a way of promoting deeper affiliation with the Church. This is in keeping with the USCCB’s initiative to deepen devotion to the Real Presence through a Eucharistic Revival, with which the McGrath Institute partners.

Tim O’Malley, academic director of the NDCL, explained that parish life centers around culture, and within the context of the Church, culture comprises the views and practices of the parish community. He continued by stating that the parish is a “communion of love,” borne of the “self-giving love of Christ.”

For him, a Eucharistic culture should be lived in every facet of the parish, and a Eucharistic revival can help teach the faithful how to foster that culture. In so doing, O’Malley believes societal divisions as well as those in the Church can be healed.

“I think that the Church senses that there is a tangible opportunity for liturgical renewal emerging, and I am humbled to be a part of the conversation of what that might practically look like,” said Father Ward, “and I, too, am convinced that it begins with fostering our Eucharistic culture. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit that is calling the Church to this work at this time. I pray that we can all respond well.”

During the two-year program, Father Ward will remain serving in the Diocese of Birmingham while taking the occasional opportunity for intense study in Indiana at the University of Notre Dame; San Antonio, Texas; and Rome. Study will focus on the dimensions of a Eucharistic culture, which include inculturated reverence, integral or integrated catechesis, popular Catholicism and devotional life, and Eucharistic solidarity. The program will culminate in summer of 2024 with liturgical publications equipping the scholars to present in dioceses and parishes throughout the United States.

Father Ward serves as the Vicar for Sacred Liturgy and Episcopal Master of Ceremonies for the Diocese of Birmingham. A convert to the Catholic Church, Father Ward was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Birmingham in 2019. He studied theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum and holds degrees in liturgy and sacramental theology from the Liturgical Institute at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. Prior to seminary he served as Director of Sacred Music at various parishes throughout the Southeast.