Notre Dame Student Describes Melkite Divine Liturgy in Malloy Hall as Part of Campus Spiritual Life

Michael Moss, a Notre Dame senior, writes that he found a Melkite Catholic Divine Liturgy on campus to be one of the most meaningful parts of his college experience. Before arriving at Notre Dame, he had little exposure to Catholic musical and liturgical traditions beyond his home parish in Minnesota and a high school choir. He describes encountering many Mass options, including dorm liturgies, basilica Masses and weekend choirs, before attending a Melkite Divine Liturgy in the chapel of Malloy Hall, which is held every other week.

Moss explains that the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is one of twenty-three Catholic churches in communion with the pope whose episcopal authority does not originate in Rome. He notes that the Melkites of South Bend have their own bishop, Nicholas. The Melkite Church, like the Maronite Church, originated in Antioch in the Middle East. The Maronites use a liturgy that developed in the Syriac tradition, while the Melkite liturgy follows Greek Byzantine practice, and visitors will hear hymns in English, Greek and Arabic. Moss also notes that the Antiochian Orthodox Church, which uses the same Byzantine liturgy, is not in communion with Rome. He reports that the Melkites have been in communion with Rome since 1729 and that they played key roles in Vatican I and Vatican II. He cites Melkite Patriarch Maximos IV Sayegh, who advocated for use of the vernacular in the liturgy during Vatican II, a practice he says had long been customary in the East.

According to Moss, although South Bend has had a Melkite community for a long time, Notre Dame had no Eastern liturgy celebrated on campus until 2015, when the Reverend Professor Khaled Anatolios arrived to teach theology and brought the Melkite liturgy with him. Father Khaled first celebrated the Divine Liturgy once a month, but Moss reports that its popularity has allowed for more frequent Eucharistic and prayer services.

Moss writes that he and his housemates value the Melkite liturgy, and that two of them regularly serve at Mass. He quotes his roommate, Stephen Santos, who said the liturgy has become a significant part of his spiritual life and that it helps him participate more fully in his own Latin liturgical tradition. Moss says he is struck by the Byzantine music, which he describes as using tonal modes different from those typically found in Western music and requiring more active singing from the congregation.

Moss also describes a personal development over the recent break. While on a Glee Club tour in Houston, he stayed with his aunt and uncle, whom he had not seen in more than seven years. He writes that his aunt’s family is Greek Orthodox, a difference that had long created what he called an unintentional spiritual distance. On an earlier visit to Minnesota, he and his siblings had found an Orthodox Liturgy together unfamiliar and uncomfortable. This time, he says, the shared form of worship gave them common ground, because the Greek Orthodox and Melkite Catholic Churches both use the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. He describes the experience as an ecumenical point of connection, a place where the family prayed together while remaining within their respective traditions (John 17:21). Moss acknowledges notable differences between the Melkite and Greek Orthodox celebrations but says the core liturgy is the same. He concludes that his relationship with his relatives has deepened.

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