Spring 2026 Update

From the President

I never wanted to go to Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. At least, in the past, I never really wanted to go. As a United Methodist and as a resident of the region for the last twenty-six years, I had had innumerable Methodist friends over the year tell me about how wonderful it was and how much they enjoyed it. (Lake Junaluska is the go-to conference site for Methodism in this part of the country.) Many encouraged me to go visit. Some had even offered me use of their homes there.

But I never really wanted to go and so I didn’t accept their offers. But my opinion did a 180 last December when, after months of investigation among the Academy’s officers about possible sites for the 2027 meeting, I went to check out Lake Junaluska. I wasn’t there long before I was shaking my head up and down in understanding of my friends’ admiration: “Okay, I get it now.” It’s a stunningly beautiful location in which the Conference Center is tucked between a 200-acre lake and verdant mountains. And the hospitality of the staff was exquisite. And there’s an atmosphere there, too, that seemed to make it suitable for a liturgically-oriented organization. As the former Canon Precentor of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. told me on my visit: “Lake Junaluska is a prayed-in space.” (That minister, Gina Campbell, is a long-time resident of Lake Junaluska.)

After that first visit and a later one with other officers, I’m now not only knowing but also excited about the prospect of our upcoming meeting, even though it will be a new and different sort of location for NAAL. We will gather there January 2-5, 2027, taking advantage of the affordability and compact convenience of the two hotels and other buildings. For those worried about having to negotiate hills (did we mention it is in the mountains?), we anticipate having a shuttle running continuously during the day for those who prefer not to walk. Moreover, we’ve arranged with a local shuttle company to be available for people flying in and out of the closest airport (Asheville, less than 40 minutes away by Interstate Highway).

Beyond its beauty, its hospitality, its affordability, or its facilities, I’m also excited about how this dedicated conference center can accomplish among us what it has in innumerable groups over the years: renew bonds of camaraderie and community. That academic fellowship has been what has sustained me as a member of the Academy for more than thirty years. And so, my hope, confidence, and expectation are that this new site for us will be one that fosters in an exceptional way the Academy’s longstanding, old purpose, namely, “To promote liturgical scholarship among its members through opportunities for exchange of ideas.” Come, and let us do this together, enjoying what one of our past presidents, Don Saliers, has called, “a contemplative and rich setting for NAAL.” I’ll see you in the mountains.

2027 Berakah Award Winner

It is my great privilege to announce that at the 2027 Annual Meeting, the North American Academy of Liturgy will confer its highest honor, the Berakah Award, on Robert J. Daly, S.J. Given in recognition of distinguished contributions to the professional work of liturgy, this award has been given each year the Academy has met since 1976.

The upcoming recipient, Fr. Robert J. Daly, is Professor Emeritus of Theology at Boston College, at which he spent many years shaping theological studies and mentoring many. While his works cover a range of theological and liturgical topics, many of us will know him best from his books and articles on sacrifice. This latter work has proved foundational in recent sacramental theologizing. Beyond his own research inquiries, he has served academia well as the editor of the journal Theological Studies from 1991–1995, as well as editing the works of liturgical scholar Edward Kilmartin. In addition, Fr. Daly served as the first director of Boston College’s Jesuit Institute, beginning in 1989. A prolific author, he continues to write and publish.

I look forward to celebrating Dr. Robert J. Daly as he accepts the Berakah Award at our next annual meeting.

In peace and with hope of seeing you at Lake Junaluska –
Lester Ruth, President
president@naal-liturgy.org

From the Vice President

As spring turns to summer, our work in the AC turns to ironing out all of the important details that will make our next Annual Meeting a success. I have been spending much of this time learning my job as Vice President, a job that supports the current President and the work of the whole Academy while at the same time looking ahead to the responsibilities I will have in the next year.

On that note, I would welcome any input and ideas you might have as we move forward as an Academy. Please feel free to contact me at vicepresident@naal-liturgy.org. I look forward to hearing from you.

Lizette Larson-Miller, Vice President
vicepresident@naal-liturgy.org

From The Meeting Manager

Get ready for Lake Junaluska 2027!

Annual Meeting 2027

Location: Lake Junaluska, North Carolina

Dates: January 2-5, 2027

Dear NAAL Members,

Planning is officially underway for the 2027 NAAL Annual Meeting! This year, we are pleased to offer a hybrid meeting format, ensuring everyone can participate in the way that suits them best—whether joining us in person amidst the beauty of western North Carolina or connecting virtually from home.

Below you will find essential details regarding registration, lodging, meals, and travel to help you prepare.

 Registration & Lodging

• Registration Launch: Registration opens on September 15, 2026
  See below for the 2027 Annual Meeting registration fees
• Accommodations: The meeting will be hosted at the Lake Junaluska Conference Center. We have secured a special negotiated room rate of $109 per night (plus taxes).
• Hotel Reservations: Booking links and instructions will open in September on the NAAL website.
• Additional Details:

 Meals: The registration fee will cover your meals. The meal plan begins with dinner on Saturday, January 2 through lunch on Monday, January 4. Your registration fee will also cover the Opening Reception on Saturday, breaks, and the Berakah Banquet on Monday evening.

Evenings: Each evening there will be hospitality at Terrace Lodge. We are planning various activities for each evening. One of the evenings will include local entertainment. There will also be a bar available which will include alcohol and non-alcohol options. Due to North Carolina liquor distribution laws, we are unable to have a cash bar. There will be an option on the registration site to purchase a Bar Ticket ($75) for cocktails, beer, and wine. The ticket will cover Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings. Sodas and water will be complimentary.

Fees:
September 15 – November 15
*Registration Fee (Members and Visitors) $495
*Bar ticket for cocktails, beer, and wine (optional) $75

 Travel & Transportation

• Primary Airport: Asheville Regional Airport (AVL). We encourage you to book your flights early to secure the best rates.
• Ground Transportation: A local shuttle service will be available for round-trip transportation between the Asheville airport and the conference center (approximately a 30-minute drive each way). A dedicated website will be shared closer to the date for you to reserve and pay for your shuttle directly.

 Additional Programming Opportunities

Maximize your Annual Meeting experience by participating in our pre-meetings, sidebars, and post-meetings.

• Pre-Meetings

Emerging Scholars: A group designed for liturgy scholars in the early stages of their careers, from graduate school through the first few years of a permanent position. This group will also have the option to continue discussions during the lunch sidebars.

Contact: Gabriel Pivarnik, GPIVARNI@providence.edu

Practitioners: A dedicated space for congregational clergy, musicians, liturgy directors, independent scholars, publishers, editors, and others to discuss practical liturgical leadership.

Contact: Lisa Weaver,  lisa.m.weaver1@gmail.com or Bryan Cones, bmcones@gmail.com

Sidebars

You can sign up for sidebars directly during the meeting registration process. Current 2027 Sidebars include:

• 2028 Annual Meeting Planning
• NAAL Visitors Sidebar
• Emerging Scholars Sidebar
• Black Scholars Sidebar
• Asian American Pacific Island Scholar Sidebar

If you are interested in starting a sidebar, contact Courtney Murtaugh, meetings@naal-liturgy.org.

Post-Meetings

There are several denominational groups and associations that gather in conjunction with the Annual Meeting. Please see the Annual Meeting webpage for specific contact information for each group.

Courtney Murtaugh, Meeting Manager
meetings@naal-liturgy.org

From the Secretary

Greetings!

Over the next few weeks, you will be receiving more emails than usual from NAAL. I want to draw your attention to these so you can be on the lookout for them.

• First, a few weeks ago we sent an email announcing a series of town hall meetings to discuss the 2027 meeting site of Lake Junaluska. We want to make sure we hear from you during these meetings, so please read over that email and add the meeting dates to your calendar. We will be sending out reminder emails a day or two in advance of each meeting.
• Second, we want to share the announcement that nominations are now open for the Nathan D. Mitchell Publication Prize (2027). See the announcement text below – we will also be sending out a separate email with this information later this month.

As we look forward to our meeting in January 2027, the past past president, Kim Belcher, is seeking nominations for the offices of Treasurer, Delegate for Seminars, and Vice President (who is also president-elect). If you have nominations (both peer and self-nominations are accepted), please send them to Kim Belcher: pastpastpresident@naal-liturgy.org. Thank you!

Finally, as a reminder, please take this opportunity to verify and update your information in your MyNAAL account. This ensures that we have your current contact information for sending out newsletters and updates about the meeting and the work of the Academy. Another way you can stay in the know is by adding the Academy leadership email addresses to your contacts/safe senders list. This lessens the chance that you will miss some important news if our emails get caught in your spam filters. Check in on our NAAL website every now and then to see new updates about the meeting.

*Call for Nominations for the Nathan D. Mitchell Publication Prize (2027)*

In honor of Nathan’s Amen Corner contributions, we are looking for essays that transform the reader’s perspective on topics of enduring interest in liturgical studies and that echo his intellectual generosity and luminous prose. Studies of any historical period, liturgical theology, ritual studies, or mixed methods are welcome. For the award given at the January 2027 meeting, we will be considering peer-reviewed journal articles with a 2024 or 2025 publication date by a member or visitor (2027) of NAAL.

Studies with one or more of the following themes are especially welcome: ecumenism, inclusiveness, interdisciplinary work, concrete practices, scholarship that will improve liturgical experience, sacramental theology, liturgy and the arts (e.g. visual arts, poetry, literature, music).

Submission deadline: September 1, 2026. Please submit a pdf of the article you are nominating. Self-nominations are also welcome.

Questions about the publication prize can be directed to: Kim Belcher at kim.belcher@gmail.com.

Peace,

Christy Condyles, Secretary
secretary@naal-liturgy.org

From the Treasurer

The Academy began the current fiscal year (FY2026) on July 1, 2025, with $77,672 in unrestricted net assets. I estimate we will close the fiscal year on June 30, 2026, with around $66,000. We remain in a solid financial position, and the $11,000 decline is less than half the size of last year’s $28,000 increase. It is also important to note that the discrepancy between this year’s budget estimates and the actual figures is concentrated on the revenue side, which I will review first.

The 2026 meeting at Emory University successfully brought together 126 members and 59 visitors. Total revenue from meeting registration was $79,575—about $11,000 below our budget projection and $7,000 less than the previous year’s meeting in Valparaiso. Still, there is a positive sign for the Academy’s future in strong visitor participation. While revenue from member registration fell short of our budget estimate, visitor registration compensated for some of the shortfall, even as many visitors received partial scholarships. With $4,725 in assistance going to eighteen attendees, including the inaugural recipient of the Nathan D. Mitchell scholarship award, 2026 was our most generous year yet. Donations to the scholarship fund help sustain this level of assistance.

Membership dues, which have not increased since 2016, remain a vital source of revenue. Dues for the calendar year are payable on January 1. We have collected about $17,000 in dues, which is $3,000 behind where we expect to be by the close of FY2026. Please log in to MyNAAL to pay dues or confirm that your membership for calendar year 2026 is already active. By selecting “donor paid fees” when you pay dues and register for the meeting, you offset transaction expenses that have cost the Academy $3,600 in this fiscal year.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Michael Prendergast, donations from sponsors and other supporters added $11,850 in revenue. Exhibitors paid $950 in fees and enriched the meeting with their presence. And through our members’ and visitors’ generosity, we collected $1,162 in donations to Hope Atlanta at the Berakah Banquet.

On the expense side, catering was our largest cost, with the $45,000 bill exceeding the previous year’s total by $8,000 despite slightly lower attendance. Hotel rooms for members who serve on the Academy Committee or in other roles were also more costly, by a similar amount. These catering and accommodation costs were significantly over budget. Contract technology services were a major expense, but the $18,500 cost was well under budget and supported engaging in-person and hybrid experiences. Combined, I expect $129,000 in FY2026 expenditures to exceed our budget estimate by only $4,000. By comparison, total revenue for FY2026 will fall $15,000 short, though prompt payment now of outstanding dues may mitigate that loss.

At its May meeting, the Academy Committee approved a budget for FY2027 that aims to be revenue-neutral if attendance holds steady. Members can help meet or exceed that goal by making plans now to attend the 2027 meeting at Lake Junaluska, either in person or virtually.

Nathaniel Marx, Treasurer
treasurer@naal-liturgy.org

From the Delegate for Membership

The deadline for membership applications is September 15, 2026. Information about our membership requirements and application process as well as the necessary forms are available on our website’s Apply for Membership page.

Visitors who meet the criteria may apply for membership after attending at least one annual meeting, and no more than four times, prior to applying for membership. If you meet the membership criteria and have attended one annual meeting, you are welcome to apply for membership this year.

I am pleased to be joined by Cheryl Lindsay and Carl Bear on this year’s Membership Committee.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with questions. I look forward to reviewing applications this fall with the Membership Committee, and I hope to see you at our next meeting.

Christina Ronzio, Delegate for Membership
membership@naal-liturgy.org

From the Delegate for Seminars

Many thanks to all of the conveners who gave leadership to seminars at the annual meeting in Atlanta. Your vision, organization, and facilitation are central to the work of the Academy. Special thanks to the seven seminar conveners who concluded their service in this role, and to the nine conveners and co-conveners who are taking on new leadership responsibilities.

Seventeen seminars met in Atlanta, ranging in size from three to thirty-four participants, with four seminars having more than twenty participants. Feedback on the meeting was overwhelmingly positive along with some specific suggestions for next year. Thanks to all the seminars that took time together to reflect on questions of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Several seminars held joint sessions in Atlanta. We encourage this kind of collaboration across methodologies and topics. Some conveners participated in an optional online meeting in May to explore possibilities for future collaboration, and another meeting will be held in the fall. If you are considering a joint session for next year, please contact me by email so that a suitable space can be arranged.

The site visit to Lake Junaluska made it clear that there are many excellent spaces available that will meet the varied needs of different seminars and sidebars. Seminar conveners are encouraged to complete the Annual Meeting Information and Request Form before July 15.

*Possible New Seminar*

Interested in a new seminar on AI and worship?

If you would have any interest in a new seminar on AI and worship, please contact Ed Foley (foley@ctu.edu). Doing so by July 1 would help planning for this coming annual meeting. Thank you.

It is my privilege to serve the Academy as the Delegate for Seminars, and I look forward to working with you as we prepare for our 2027 meeting.

Please do not hesitate to reach out by email with any question.

Fall 2025 Update

From the President

Dear friends and colleagues,

Summer ends, Autumn begins. The pace quickens for some, changes for others. Our political landscape remains in tumult, to say the least. Violence and contempt for human life are too much in evidence. Yet… God’s love and grace, too, remain, as does our faith that divine light will prevail over this time of darkness. We pray and work as faithfully as we can in our contexts; discern the courses of action by which we witness to the dignity of all human beings and the precious value of creation; and trust all our trials to God’s power to redeem. I have made it a part of my rule to pray daily for the members of this Academy over the last year, and I hope you do so as well.

Turning to Autumn means a turn to the fine details of our next Annual Meeting. I am very grateful to the members of the Academy Committee—Christy Condyles, Nathaniel Marx, Andrew Wymer, Sarah Kathleen Johnson, Lester Ruth, Kim Belcher, and our Meeting Manager, Courtney Murtaugh, whose reports you will see elsewhere in this Newsletter—for their conscientious efforts on behalf of this Academy. The leadership of the NAAL is not the work of the President alone, but the work of a team. I am grateful for their breadth of perspective, institutional memory, and wise counsel. Glenn Byer and the Nominations Committee have developed a slate of nominees for office that will serve the Academy well. Jason McFarland has just published another fine edition of our Proceedings to our website that is beautifully tended by Layla Karst. Michael Prendergast works his magic in sponsorships that help us meet our costs and Anne McGownan keeps her watchful eye on the treasure of our archives. Rebecca Spurrier and the EDI Committee continue to help us think about the reach of our hospitality to all persons. I am grateful to all these faithful servants of our common life.

We are all looking forward to our time together at Emory University on Jan 2-5, 2026. The hotel conference center and campus hold great promise for our meeting. Good technology and comfortable rooms for our seminars, a beautiful space for our banquet, and worship in a space built for worship, just as we enjoyed last year at Valparaiso. Given the way the dates fall this year, we will have the rich offerings of the Atlanta area for some of our worship as well. The great restaurants of Decatur are nearby while we will also have opportunities to eat together. And of course, the work of our seminars will continue to fund our work as scholars and practitioners of liturgy.

It will be our great privilege to confer the Berakah Award on Frank Senn, a scholar-practitioner whose published works reflect his explorations into the history of liturgy, liturgical theology, and the fundamental significance of the body to our practices of worship and prayer. I am very eager for us to hear his wisdom and celebrate his work.

I am also looking forward to the address by our Vice President Lester Ruth. He and I have had some rich conversation about what drives our involvement in this Academy today. I encourage you to answer the question he poses in his message in this Newsletter. Lester and Courtney are working diligently on options for the 2027 Annual Meeting as we continue to live into the “post-hotel” model for our meetings—a shift that is both new and a return to our roots.

Please do see the report of our Past President, Kim Belcher, about the encouraging number of applicants for Visitor status at our upcoming meeting. This bodes well for the future. Our Academy continues to be enriched by new perspectives and fresh thinking that our Visitors and New Members bring to us.

As I work on the rites and rituals of the 2026 Annual Meeting, I ask your assistance: if you are aware of members who ought to be remembered at this year’s Opening Rite, or you would like to volunteer to read the memorial for a member who will be remembered this year, please email me. We are aware of the deaths of Larraine Brugh, Bill Peterson, and Nathan Chase. If you know of others, I can be reached by email at jfarwell@vts.edu or at president@naal.liturgy.org.

If there is any other concern you have about the life of our Academy with which I can be helpful, please reach out to me at the email above. I eagerly anticipate our time in Atlanta and, in the meantime, which you all the blessings of God on your life and work.

James W. Farwell, President
president@naal-liturgy.org

From the Vice President

Chalking It Up

Perhaps I could chalk it up to getting older but I find that I am reminiscing a bit more about my education and first years as a liturgical historian. Being elected as vice-president of the Academy has only given a caffeine-like jolt to this reflection as I now also contemplate having this corporate responsibility. As I ruminated, I found myself pondering two questions: why did I start attending NAAL annual meetings and why did I join? As the risk of venturing off into narratives of walking both ways to school uphill in the snow in July, I can highlight how much the ecumenical Liturgical Movement provided the answers to both of my questions. I was attracted to studying worship—and becoming part of NAAL—because recovery of the liturgical wisdom of the ancient church offered much in my estimation for renewing the church today. I jumped on this heady bandwagon of the Liturgical Movement. Being part of it is a large part of why I joined our organization and began attending our meetings.

Chalk it up to being a historian but I know that things—including human institutions like NAAL—are constantly changing and evolving. I look around now and do not discern the Liturgical Movement having the same sort of compelling backdrop for our meetings. It no longer seems the pervasive air we all breathe. It no longer seems to me to be the source from which we gain our motivation to study liturgy, attend our meetings, and join our organization. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’d like to find out.

And so, chalk it up (I need to buy more chalk or get a whiteboard!) to being a NAAL officer who wants to contemplate the future and help guide the North American Academy of Liturgy into it in a robust way, but I would like to hear from you. Why did you become part of NAAL? Why did you start to attend its meetings? Why do you still come? If you would like to share these ponderings with me, I would invite you to tell me here: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6xonCBDaEzSQqUK. Your submission will be anonymous. If you’d like to tell me in person, I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting in Atlanta. Until then: NAAL, y’all.

Lester Ruth, Vice President
vicepresident@naal-liturgy.org

Candidates for Office

Vice President

The Rev. Canon Lizette Larson-Miller, PhD, is currently Professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology at Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago, having been canon precentor for the Anglican Diocese of Huron (Ontario, Canada). She has just completed a term as interim priest for the Episcopal parish of St. Mark’s (Berkeley) and continues to serve as a parish priest.

Her first degrees were in music, followed by an MA in liturgical studies (St. John’s, Collegeville), and a PhD in liturgical history and sacramental theology (GTU, Berkeley). She is the author of four books and numerous articles, including Sacramentality Renewed (2016), and has been president of both Societas Liturgica and the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation (a network of the Anglican Communion). She is a frequent presenter on liturgy and sacramental theology and ecumenical issues in a variety of settings, including the address in January (2024) in Seattle when she received the Berakah award at the North American Academy of Liturgy, and a presentation this past July at the biennial Societas Liturgica Congress.  She also addressed the Seminar on Lutheran Liturgy in August (in Minneapolis).

Her particular academic interests center around the rites with the sick, the dying, and the dead, as well as developments in sacramental theology. She is currently working on a new book on “Sacramentality Extended” exploring the sacramentality of popular religiosity and the ongoing relationships between official liturgy and those rituals of expression and formation.

“Fun” (in addition to sacramentality) includes traveling, swimming, and singing in a community chorus!

Edward Phillips is Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Christian Worship at Candler School of Theology. He is also a faculty member of Emory’s Graduate Division of Religion. Phillips has degrees from the University of Tennessee at Martin (B.S.), Candler School of Theology (M.Div.) and the University of Notre Dame (Ph.D.).

Before coming to Emory, he taught at Duke Divinity School (2005-8), Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois (1997-2005), and Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky (1991-1997). An elder in The United Methodist Church since 1981, he has served pastoral appointments in Tennessee and Indiana.

Phillips’s recent published work includes The Purpose, Pattern, and Character of Worship and the fourth edition (revised) of James White’s Introduction to Christian Worship (editor and contributor). He has also written three books with his wife Sara Webb Phillips, including In Spirit and Truth: United Methodist Worship for the Emerging Church.

From 2007-2016 he was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Liturgy. He also serves as The United Methodist co-chair of the ELCA-UMC Full Communion Implementation Committee.

In April of 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, he and Taylor Burton-Edward initiated the Ecumenical Consultation on Worship, Fellowship, and Sacrament. This consultation has released guidance in English and Spanish for congregations during the pandemic in 2020 and revised the guidance in 2021. Several members of NAAL participated in this consultation.

His current project examines worship as formation of moral imagination in the face of the Palestinian genocide, growing authoritarianism in the USA, and the worship practices of Christian Nationalism.Delegate for Membership

Gabriel Pivarnik currently serves as an Associate Professor of Theology and the Director of the Honors Program at Providence College in Providence, RI. A pastoral musician since his childhood, he also developed a love for liturgical and musical studies. Ordained a priest in 1997 with the Dominican Friars, he has served in both parochial and academic settings in the Diocese of Providence. Throughout his ministry, he has served on the Diocesan Music Commission, the Provincial Liturgical Commission, the Clergy Committee of NPM, and the Dominican Higher Education Commission (serving as the Chair of the DHE Consortium Meeting in 2018). He entered NAAL about fifteen years ago and has worked with two seminars: first, Eucharistic Prayer and Theology, and then, Critical Theories and Liturgical Studies. While at Providence College, Pivarnik has served as both the Director of the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies (2010-2018) and the Vice President for Mission and Ministry (2013-2018). He returned to full-time teaching in 2019 and was appointed the Director of the College’s Honors Program in 2023. A frequent presenter at conferences and academy meetings, Pivarnik published Towards a Trinitarian Theology of Liturgical Participation(2013) as well as many other articles and reviews. He is currently completing works on “The Theological Significance of Diversity in Catholic Higher Education,” “Priestly Blessing,” for the EBR, and a book manuscript tentatively titled, Reframing Sacraments: Unleashing the Symbolic from the Utility of Transaction. In his Dominican community, he serves as House Cantor and organist, and for the past few years, he has worked with the Emerging Scholars Group for NAAL.

 Christina Ronzio holds a BA in Religious Studies, with a minor in Church Music and Worship, from the University of Waterloo (ON), and a MA in liturgical studies from St. John’s University, Collegeville (MN).

After extensive parish ministry experience as a teenager, she served as Director of Liturgy for the Dioceses of London (ON), Cleveland (OH) and Hamilton (ON), overseeing liturgical formation at the parish and diocesan level and assisting with the liturgical formation of seminarians.

She was a member of the CCCB National Council for Liturgical Music (2025-2027, 2014-2018); the chairperson of the Ontario Liturgical Conference Music Commission (2004-2007) and the chairperson of the Ontario Liturgical Conference (2013-2018).

In 2018 she was named the Director of the National Liturgy Office for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Secretary to the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy and the Sacraments. She assists the bishops in facilitating education and training in liturgical matters; the production of ritual and liturgical books for use in Canada; in studying questions regarding liturgy and liturgical adaptations which may be proposed to the Holy See; and in the coordination of national studies with the Commission pour la liturgie et les sacrements and its corresponding Office national de liturgie. She is also the CCCB representative to the Consultation on Common Texts.

She has published articles and resources on liturgical celebration, music and initiation with Novalis and the United Church of Canada.

For the past three years she has served as the convener of NAAL’s Christian Initiation Seminar.

From The Meeting Manager

Annual Meeting 2026
Atlanta, GA
January 2-5, 2026

REGISTRATION FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING WILL OPEN SEPTEMBER 15.

Registration details including registration fees can be found on the NAAL website. This year, we will offer a hybrid meeting, ensuring everyone can participate in a way that suits them best, whether in person or virtually.

The Annual Meeting will take place at Emory University, Atlanta, GA. You can find details regarding the meeting below. While we will host a few of our events at the hotel, the bulk of the meeting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be at the Candler School of Theology and Cannon Chapel.

REGISTER NOW

Registration Fees

Registration fees for the 2026 Annual Meeting are the same as fees for the 2025 Annual Meeting.

• Early Bird Member Registration (September 15 – November 15) includes Berakah Banquet Ticket $450.00
• Early Bird Visitors Registration (September 15 – November 15) includes Berakah Banquet Ticket $450.00
• Member Registration Fee (Nov. 15- Dec. 15) includes Berakah Banquet Ticket $500.00
• Visitor Registration Fee (Nov. 15 – Dec. 15) includes Berakah Banquet Ticket $500.00
• Guests Meal Berakah Banquet Ticket (no reservations after Dec. 15) The guest ticket is someone that has not registered to attend the annual meeting. $100.00

Hotel Information

We have negotiated a contract with the Emory Conference Center Hotel. The negotiated rate is $189 and includes breakfast. I’ve secured 100 rooms on the peak nights of January 2, 3, and 4. There is an 80% attrition, but the risk is very low that the attrition will not be met.

The hotel has also assured me that if we need more rooms, they will be happy to increase the block as needed as well as honor the $189 nightly rate. The hotel has a restaurant/bar off the lobby, so there will be an evening gathering space to network with your friends and colleagues.

A few of our events will be held at the hotel, such as the Visitors Reception, President’s Reception, and the Berakah Address and Banquet. The President’s reception will be in a pub-type environment with a pool table, arcade games, and a bowling alley. All equipment is onsite with no cost. Just bring your socks if you want to bowl.

If you need assistance with finding roommates to help offset room costs, please contact our Meeting Manager, Courtney Murtaugh (meetings@naal-liturgy.org).

Hotel reservations will open in September. Details will be on the NAAL website and registration page of the Annual Meeting.

Meal Information (included in registration fees or room rate)

• Friday 
  President Reception will be heavy appetizers and pub-type food.
  Dinner on your own.
• Saturday
  Breakfast provided at the hotel (included in the room rate)
  Lunch buffet provided at Cannon/Candler.
  Dinner is on your own.
• Sunday
  Breakfast provided at the hotel.
  Lunch buffet provided at Cannon/Candler.
  Berakah Banquet will be in the Silverbell Ballroom at the Emory Conference Center Hotel.

Air Travel – Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson

You are encouraged to book your flights ASAP to get the best rates. There is a taxi service outside the terminals as well as prearranged Uber or Lyft rides.

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE MEETING

Pre-meetings

On Friday the following groups will be meeting at Candler or Cannon:

• Emerging Scholars – a group for liturgy scholars in the early stages of their career, particularly tailored to the needs of those in graduate school up through the first few years of their first permanent position. This group will also have the option to continue the discussion at lunch on Friday and Saturday during the Side Bars. Contact Gabriel Pivarnik
  
• Practitioners – a gathering of congregational clergy, musicians, liturgy directors, independent scholars, publishers, editors, and others who want a space to talk about very practical liturgical leadership. Contact Lisa Weaver or Bryan Cones

Sidebars

Sidebars will be held on Saturday and Sunday during lunch on the Emory campus. There will be a sign-up option in the registration process. If you would like to host a sidebar not listed below, please contact Courtney Murtaugh via email –meetings@naal-liturgy.org

• 2027 Planning Sidebar
• NAAL Visitors Sidebar
• Emerging Scholars Sidebar
• Black Scholars Sidebar
• Underrepresented Scholar Sidebar
• Asian American Pacific Island Scholar Sidebar
• EDI Gathering

Post-Meeting Contacts

If you plan to attend a denominational post-meeting, please contact your convener.

• Episcopal/Anglican | Contact James Farwell
• Free Church | Contact Sarah Johnson
• Lutheran | Contact Kristian Kohler
• Roman Catholic | website
• United Methodist | Diana Sanchez-Bushong
• Reformed/Presbyterian| Contact Jonathan Hehn

If I can be of any assistance as you prepare for the 2026 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Courtney Murtaugh, Meeting Manager
meetings@naal-liturgy.org

From the Secretary

As we get closer to our Annual Meeting, the tasks of preparation increase for all of us in our own ways. In order to help our meeting run smoothly and have everyone on the same page, I want to make sure that all of our seminars, sidebars, post-meetings, and other events are added to our Sched app. Seminar conveners

Spring 2025 Update

From the President

I hope this newsletter finds you flourishing despite what is a difficult time for many of us and for many of those we serve in academic, judicatory, and local religious institutions. It is a divisive moment, dangerous for some, an altogether worrying context. And yet in this and every context, hope remains: our liturgical assemblies continue their work, bringing into praise and prayer before God the needs of human beings: the marginalized, the poor, the sick, and those who are afraid; the lonely and troubled and the victims of war and disaster; the stranger in the land, and those who are strangers to God’s will for the wellbeing of every person, all made in God’s own image. And so our work as an Academy continues as well, serving and teaching and strengthening those liturgical assemblies and walking with one another as colleagues and friends.

To that end, we will gather, as we do, for our Annual Meeting in 2026. I am excited to confirm the plan announced last January that we will meet this year in Atlanta, January 2-5, utilizing the campus of Emory University; specifically, the buildings of Candler School of Theology and the Emory Conference Center Hotel, adjacent to the Emory campus. It will be a delight to welcome you all to my doctoral alma mater! Registration and some of our customary gatherings will be held in the Conference Center, which includes a newly renovated, stunning site for our Berakah dinner, and a location for a Reception with some surprise amenities (although, if you are a sleuth, a little browsing on the conference center’s website might tip you off to some of the details . . . or you could just read Courtney’s report below!). Opportunities for dining communally and in nearby Decatur will be in abundance.

The Seminars will largely be held nearby on the campus at Candler School of Theology and worship will be in Candler’s striking Cannon Chapel. The rooms offer space for a range of seminar sizes and formats, and they are extremely well equipped for technical needs, which should also enable a seamless experience for those who attend online, although we really hope that you will be in person as you are able. There will again be a space for quiet and prayer, which inclusion was much appreciated by several of you at Valparaiso. A shuttle will be available between the campus and the hotel. We trust also that nearby Hartsfield-Jackson International airport will ease travel arrangements for all.

Your Academy Committee has been perusing the surveys we asked you to fill out last January. The meeting at Valparaiso was on the whole well received and positively reviewed. (Again, bravo to Past President Kimberly Belcher, Meeting Manger Courtney Murtaugh, and to everyone on the Academy Committee.) Our Treasurer’s Report, elsewhere in this newsletter, will provide you the details and the good news. The survey assessing the views of members on our Annual Meetings going forward were also very illuminating. Among other things it affirms an overwhelming desire to the continuation of in-person meetings with a hybrid component, even as we continue to wrestle with the challenges faced by our members and visitors whose expenses are at best only partially funded. The Academy Committee, including Vice President Lester Ruth, of course, will think more about what this information means for future meetings in light of the financial success seen thus far in our move away from the free-standing hotel model. There will be more to share with you in the next newsletter. In the meantime, further details about logistics and the daily schedule of the Annual Meeting in Atlanta meeting will be posted shortly on the website.

A final note of academy business: at last year’s Annual Meeting, we passed new Bylaws that govern the procedures around membership. The Academy Committee, in accordance with its charge, updates the Policies and Procedures to comply with those revised Bylaws. These will be posted to the website and interested parties should refer to the page on the website concerning “Apply for Membership.”

2026 Berakah Award Winner

It is my great honor to announce that at the Annual Meeting of 2026, we will confer the Berakah Award on Frank Senn. Frank is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American and Affiliate Professor of Liturgy at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. A prolific author with the heart of a pastor and the experience to match, he is a past president of this Academy.

Frank is the faithful exemplar of a scholar-practitioner. Countless students have been blessed with his mentorship at Lutheran School at Chicago, The University of Chicago Divinity School, and Garrett-Evangelical, as well as overseas in Singapore and Indonesia, to name only a few in a distinguished list of institutions. In his current work at Garrett-Evangelical, he focuses on teaching and supervision in the doctoral program. His persistence in teaching through some significant health challenges is inspiring.

Even while teaching, Frank has registered some 4 decades of pastoral and catechetical ministry to churches in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois, bringing his knowledge of liturgical history and theology to the worship of the local assembly. At the same time, a marvel to me, he has been a prolific contributor to the field. Author or editor of 16 monographs, contributor of chapters to 16 more—I can’t even keep count of the journal articles—his books speak to liturgical history, liturgical renewal and practice, the Eucharist, and the relationship between liturgy and culture. In recent years, he has turned in several volumes toward the significance of the body, and bodies, in worship, partly as a result of his teaching experience in Indonesia. His latest works include Eucharistic Body (Fortress, 2017,) and a new contribution on “The Body in Protestant Spirituality” to the newly updated Protestant Spiritual Traditions in 2 volumes (Wipf and Stock, 2020). It will be an honor to see the Berakah Award conferred upon Frank Senn.

Faithfully, and with hope to see you in Atlanta,
James Farwell, President
president@naal-liturgy.org

From the Vice President

A few years ago, Belmont professor Adam Perez introduced me to a book he had occasionally used as a supplemental text in an Intro to Worship class: Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering. Parker, who has developed herself as an oft-consulted guru for a variety of organizations, helping them to turn their “lackluster and unproductive” gatherings into “meaningful, memorable” meetings (to use the promotional language of the back cover), wrote the book to make her thoughts more widespread.

I have found this book an interesting, helpful, and sometimes provocative read as I myself contemplate a Christian worship service as a kind of public gathering. Whatever else a corporate worship service is, it is indeed a gathering of humans. And so, even though Parker doesn’t consider religious gatherings per se in the book, I have ruminated on Parker’s categories and questions about the dynamics found in strong gatherings.

One of the dynamics she highlights early in the book is about the guest list. According to Parker, it needs to be developed with purpose. And so, she raises a critical—sometimes difficult—question: “Who is this gathering for first?” Parker argues that not answering that question, to try to create a gathering that is for everyone, means you’ve likely taken a step toward a weaker meeting because it will become harder to stay focused on the purpose of the meeting itself as you craft how the meeting will be conducted and what it will do. As Parker puts it: “If everyone is invited, no one is invited—in the sense of being truly held by the group. By closing the door, you create the room.”

Since my election as vice president of NAAL, I find that my reflections on the Parker book, including this particular one, have begun to migrate to contemplating what it means to meet as the North American Academy of Liturgy. I don’t have any final answers yet to that question (i.e., Who is this gathering for first?”), but I offer my brief article here as a kind of FYI on what your vice president is up to as he reviews our organization’s demographic information, our history, our surveys of recent participants, and our foundational documents. Any thoughts you have would be more than welcome at vicepresident@naal-liturgy.org.

Peace,
Lester Ruth, Vice President
vicepresident@naal-liturgy.org

From The Meeting Manager

Annual Meeting 2026
Atlanta, GA
January 2-5, 2026

REGISTRATION FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING WILL OPEN SEPTEMBER 15.

Registration details including registration fees will be found on the NAAL website no later than September 10. This year, we will offer a hybrid meeting, ensuring everyone can participate in a way that suits them best, whether in person or virtually.

The Annual Meeting will take place at Emory University, Atlanta, GA. You can find details regarding the meeting below. While we will host a few of our events at the hotel, the bulk of the meeting on Friday and Saturday will be at the Candler School of Theology and Cannon Chapel.

Hotel Information

We have negotiated a contract with the Emory Conference Center Hotel. The negotiated rate is $189 and includes breakfast. I’ve secured 100 rooms on the peak nights of January 2, 3, and 4. There is an 80% attrition, but the risk is very low that the attrition will not be met.

The hotel has also assured me that if we need more rooms, they will be happy to increase the block as needed as well as honor the $189 nightly rate. The hotel has a restaurant/bar off the lobby, so there will be an evening gathering space to network with your friends and colleagues.

A few of our events will be held at the hotel, such as the Visitors Reception, President’s Reception, and the Berakah Address and Banquet. The reception will be in a pub-type environment with a pool table, arcade games, and a bowling alley. All equipment is onsite with no cost. Just bring your socks if you want to bowl.

If you need assistance with finding roommates to help offset room costs, please contact our Meeting Manager, Courtney Murtaugh (meetings@naal-liturgy.org).

Hotel reservations will open in September. Details will be on the NAAL website.

Meal Information (included in registration fees or room rate)

• Friday – President Reception will be heavy appetizers and pub-type food. Dinner on your own.
• Saturday – Breakfast provided at the hotel (included in the room rate). Lunch buffet provided at Cannon/Candler. Dinner is on your own.
• Sunday – Breakfast provided at the hotel. Lunch buffet provided at Cannon/Candler. Berakah Banquet will be in the Silverbell Ballroom at the Emory Conference Center Hotel.

Air Travel – Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson

You are encouraged to book your flights ASAP to get the best rates. There is a taxi service outside the terminals as well as prearranged Uber or Lyft rides.

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE MEETING

Pre-meetings

On Friday the following groups will be meeting at Candler or Cannon:

• Emerging Scholars – a group for liturgy scholars in the early stages of their career, particularly tailored to the needs of those in graduate school up through the first few years of their first permanent position. This group will also have the option to continue the discussion at lunch on Friday and Saturday during the Side Bars. Contact Gabriel Pivarnik
• Practitioners – a gathering of congregational clergy, musicians, liturgy directors, independent scholars, publishers, editors, and others who want a space to talk about very practical liturgical leadership. Contact Lisa Weaver or Bryan Cones

Sidebars

Sidebars will be held on Saturday and Sunday during lunch on the Emory campus. There will be a sign-up option in the registration process. If you would like to host a sidebar not listed below, please contact Courtney Murtaugh via email – meetings@naal-liturgy.org

• 2027 Planning Sidebar
• NAAL Visitors Sidebar
• Emerging Scholars Sidebar
• Black Scholars Sidebar
• Underrepresented Scholar Sidebar
• Asian American Pacific Island Scholar Sidebar

Post-Meeting Contacts

If you plan to attend a denominational post-meeting, please contact your convener.

• Episcopal/Anglican | Contact James Farwell
• Free Church | Contact Sarah Johnson
• Lutheran | Contact Kristian Kohler
• Roman Catholic | website
• United Methodist | Diana Sanchez-Bushong
• Reformed/Presbyterian| Contact Jonathan Hehn

If I can be of any assistance as you prepare for the 2026 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Courtney Murtaugh, Meeting Manager
meetings@naal-liturgy.org

From the Secretary

I want to thank everyone for a wonderful meeting in Valparaiso in January. It was great to help out at the registration table and say hello to many of you!

At that meeting, we asked for your feedback on two different surveys, and we greatly appreciate the feedback that you have given on them. The AC has spent time reviewing the responses and discussing how to make our Academy and meetings better, more positive experiences in the future. Thank you!

As we move into summer and maybe(!) have a little more leisure time, I invite everyone to take a few minutes to verify and update your information in your MyNAAL account. This ensures that we have your current contact information for sending out newsletters and updates about the meeting and the work of the Academy. Another way you can stay in the know is by adding the Academy leadership email addresses to your contacts/safe senders list. This lessens the change that you will miss some important news if our emails get caught in your spam filters. Check in on our NAAL website every now and then to see new updates about the meeting and for copies of the newsletters (which will continue to be emailed to everyone).

Even though we are still a few months away from needing to have all the details for the next Annual Meeting finalized, I encourage everyone who is coordinating a seminar or other group meeting during that time to reach out to the AC to let us know about the needs your group will have.

Peace,

Christy Condyles, Secretary
secretary@naal-liturgy.org

From the Treasurer

The 2025 meeting in Valparaiso successfully brought together 166 in-person attendees and 34 virtual participants. Registration fees for virtual participation were equal to those charged for attendance in person. Revenue from meeting registration was $89,500—nearly equal to 2024’s registration revenue and to our 2025 budget projections.

We paid Valparaiso University a $5,500 facility fee for meeting spaces and support. Since this included audiovisual equipment and support staff to provide a robust hybrid meeting experience, we saved $30,000 on technology compared to last year’s meeting in Seattle.

In addition to the receptions, coffee breaks, and the Berakah Banquet, the registration fee for the 2025 meeting included an extra dinner and two lunches. Nevertheless, the $37,250 catering bill was under budget and almost $32,000 (46%) lower than the hotel catering cost in Seattle last year.

The Academy paid $8,000 for buses to transport participants between the hotels and VU’s campus. In addition, we passed along $4,900 from participants who bought tickets for transportation to and from Chicago airports.

Altogether, then, approximately $97,000 in total expenditures on the 2025 Annual Meeting and ancillary operations exceeded registration revenue by only $7,500, even before adding dues and donations to the bottom line.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Michael Prendergast, donations from sponsors and other supporters added $14,500 in revenue. Exhibitors paid an additional $1,450 in fees and enriched the meeting with their presence. Membership dues remained a consistent revenue stream, contributing another $16,000. Please log in to MyNAAL to pay dues or confirm that your membership for calendar year 2025 is already active. By selecting “donor paid fees” when you pay dues and register for the meeting, you offset transaction expenses that have cost the Academy $4,100 in this fiscal year.

The Academy also received $850 in donations to the scholarship fund and awarded $3,375 in scholarships to 12 attendees. In another sign of our members’ and visitors’ generosity, we collected $800 in donations to Project Neighbors at the Berakah Banquet. Finally, the 2025 Annual Meeting marked the establishment of the Nathan D. Mitchell Fund for Excellence in Liturgical Studies, which will annually support a publication award and a visitor scholarship. NAAL members contributed $6,512 to the memorial fund. Nathan’s family and other friends contributed an additional $18,025, bringing us within $500 of the initial fundraising goal of $25,000. If you would like to join these generous donors in remembering Nathan Mitchell and extending his legacy, you may contribute online (with or without your MyNAAL login) or mail a check to the treasurer.

Although we will not close the books on fiscal year 2025 until the end of June, I estimate that the Academy will see positive net revenue of about $30,000. This is the first year since the COVID-19 pandemic that the Academy has increased its net assets, replenishing a cash reserve that had fallen to $55,000 at the end of FY2024. While that cushion has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic level of $130,000, assets at the end of FY2025 will approximately total $85,000. We must credit the extraordinary efforts of our meeting manager, Courtney Murtaugh, who enabled us to negotiate and adapt our way back to positive net revenue after the financial challenges of the past five years.

The most helpful thing that members can do to increase the financial health of the Academy is to attend the 2026 meeting at Emory University, either in person or virtually. With similar or increased attendance, we anticipate covering the full cost of the meeting and continuing to rebuild the Academy’s cash reserve.

Nathaniel Marx, Treasurer
treasurer@naal-liturgy.org

From the Delegate for Membership

Greetings to each of you!

As was noted in the president’s message, the AC has updated the Policies and Procedures based on the bylaw revision passed by the Academy at our January meeting. I invite you to review the applicable sections of the updated Bylaws (section 6.2) and Policies and Procedures (section 1.2) on the Academy website.

Two key shifts to note are the revised criteria for membership and the shift in our policies to requiring visitors to attend the annual meeting at least one time and no more than four times prior to applying for membership. If you meet the membership criteria and have attended one annual meeting, you are welcome to apply for membership this year.

The deadline for membership applications is September 15, 2025. Information about our membership requirements and application process as well as the necessary forms are available on our website, https://www.naal-liturgy.org/members/application/.

I am grateful to be joined by Audrey Seah and J.J. Wright on the Membership Committee this year.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with questions. I look forward to reviewing applications this fall with the Membership Committee, and I hope to see you at our next meeting.

Andrew Wymer, Delegate for Membership
membership@naal-liturgy.org

From the Delegate for Seminars

To begin, I would like to express deep gratitude to all of the conveners who gave leadership to seminars at the annual meeting. Your vision, organization, and facilitation are central to the work of the Academy. Special thanks to three seminar conveners who are concluding their service in this role, and to three who are taking on new leadership responsibilities.

I also wish to thank Khalia Williams for her dedicated service as Delegate for Seminars over these past years, especially in navigating ongoing hybridity and new meeting formats. We are grateful for your leadership!

Eighteen seminars met in 2025, seventeen in a hybrid or in-person format, and one fully online. Feedback on the meeting was overwhelmingly positive along with some specific suggestions for room arrangements for next year.

Several seminars held joint sessions in Valparaiso. We encourage this kind of collaboration across methodologies and topics. If you are considering a joint session for next year, please contact me by email so that a suitable space can be arranged.

The site visit to Atlanta made it clear that there are many excellent spaces available that will meet the varied needs of different seminars. Seminar conveners are encouraged to complete the Annual Meeting Information and Request Form before July 15.

It is my privilege to serve the Academy as the Delegate for Seminars, and I look forward to working with you as we prepare for our 2026 meeting.

Please do not hesitate to reach out by email with any questions.

Sarah Kathleen Johnson, Delegate for Seminars
seminars@naal-liturgy.org

From the Past President

What a pleasure it was to meet with so many of you in Valparaiso, and to welcome so many online! I really enjoyed this year’s Annual Meeting. I call your attention to the updated “Apply for Membership” page on the website, which reflects the revisions to our bylaws we approved at the January meeting. The clarified, simplified, and streamlined process means that visitors who have attended at least one meeting and found a seminar they want to contribute to can apply for membership this fall and be inducted this January.

My responsibility now revolves around processing applications for new visitors. I am delighted to say that we have already received seven applications. Since this year our meeting takes place in a major hub and we have clarified our membership requirements, it would be a great year to reach out to scholars and practitioners in liturgical fields who might be able to learn from and contribute to our work. Another way you can help with visitor recruitment is by offering a scholarship donation. We give out more scholarship money than we receive in donations every year, and it really helps potential members experience the organization and discern whether it will fit their needs.

Please encourage potential visitors who are uncertain about international travel or funding this year to apply for visitor status or reach out to me directly for information about attending virtually. I am very happy to report that our online attendees rated the experience of the 2025 Annual Meeting well above 4 out of 5 points (very good to excellent) overall, so I think even new visitors could attend in this format and have a good experience.

A point of information for anyone who wasn’t at the January business meeting: Proceedings is now a fully-indexed, open-access journal linked from the North American Academy of Liturgy main website. Anyone who has expertise in page layout and would be willing to volunteer to produce the PDF files once per year is encouraged to reach out to Jason McFarland.

Kim Belcher, Past President
pastpresident@naal-liturgy.org

Jobs 

If there are job openings at your institutions you wish to post on our website, you may upload them using our request form. Current postings can be found here: https://www.naal-liturgy.org/members/jobs/ 

Seeking Your NAAL Photos and Video

If you have good photographs or video from recent NAAL meetings (2024-2025) and are willing to share these to help keep our website fresh  you may upload them via our web form. If you have more than 5 photos to share, be sure to check the box and our webmaster will get back with you to discuss how best to share them.

Contact Us

All Academy officers’ email and other contact information is available on the Academy Committee page of our website.