School of Theology and Ministry Professor of Historical and Liturgical Theology John F. Baldovin, S.J., is the recipient of the 2021 Jubilate Deo Award, given in recognition of his substantial contribution to the development of pastoral liturgy in the United States. The Jubilate Deo Award is the highest honor bestowed by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, an organization dedicated to fostering the art of musical liturgy by serving the Catholic Church in the U.S. as musicians, clergy, liturgists, and other leaders of prayer.
“I am deeply honored by this recognition from the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, especially in view of the wonderful colleagues I join as recipients of this award,” said Fr. Baldovin, an expert in the history and theology of the liturgy, sacramental theology, and the theology of ministry ordained and lay. He has taught at the STM, and previously Weston Jesuit School of Theology, since 1999.
Professor John F. Baldovin, S.J.
Fr. Baldovin was presented with the award at the NPM’s annual convention where he delivered, in virtual format, a keynote address on “Singing the Lord’s Song in Time of Trouble: How Can the Eucharist be a Celebration of Reconciliation, Hope and Joy?” His talk explored how the Church and pastoral musicians will recover from what the COVID pandemic has wrought; how the Eucharist can be a means of reconciliation in an American culture that is fractured by civil discord; how liturgical celebrations can address the persistent, sinful, and endemic racism that pervades society; and how to avoid making the Eucharist a battleground for the culture wars that characterize the Catholic Church, especially in the U.S. today.
The text from his keynote address was published as an article in the NPM’s magazine, Pastoral Music.
Fr. Baldovin is president of the International Jungmann Society for Jesuits and the Liturgy and is a member of the board of directors of the esteemed journal, Theological Studies. He is past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) as well as the international ecumenical Societas Liturgica. He served on the advisory committee for the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (1989-1993) as well as on the advisory committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy from 1994-2002. He received the Berakah Award for distinguished achievement from the NAAL in 2007.
He is an author of numerous books and articles, notably the award-winning book Reforming the Liturgy: A Response to the Critics. His writings have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Albanian.
He also has taught at Fordham University, the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, the University of Notre Dame, and St. John Vianney National Seminary in South Africa.
He received a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, an M.Div. from Weston School of Theology, and an M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. A priest of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Baldovin assists at weekend Masses at parishes in Cambridge and Lexington.
Kathleen Sullivan | University Communications | October 2021