Timothy O'Malley

McGrath Institute for Church Life

Office
368 Geddes Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556-4633
Phone
574-631-0571
Email
tomalley@nd.edu
Website

Director of Education; Academic Director, Notre Dame Center for Liturgy; Editor, Church Life Journal

  • Catholic Church 
  • Catholic liturgy and sacraments
  • Catholic spirituality and formation
  • Catholic doctrine on marriage and family 
  • Catholic identity in educational institutions
  • St. Augustine 

O'Malley’s Latest News

O'Malley in the News

Sometimes Called ‘Little Lent,’ Advent Zeros In On Preparation, Which Can Include Penitence

Timothy O’Malley, the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, emphasized that much of the church’s year has historically been penitential.

Why is Easter celebrated with eggs? What to know about the holiday's origins and how it's changed

"Easter's roots (date back to) a day in the week in which Christ rose from the dead. It would have been the first day of the week after the Jewish Sabbath, which was Saturday," Timothy P. O’Malley, a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame's McGrath Institute for Church Life, told USA TODAY.

Is Latin a sacred language?

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Catholic journalists urged to face media, church distrust head-on

Put another way: “Journalists and communicators have a role to play here, to let the eucharistic mystery of the church manifest itself for the life of the world,” said Timothy O’Malley, director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Hand or tongue? Kneeling or standing? Either way, receiving the Eucharist should be an act of communion

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

KJZZ

Thousands of baptisms may be invalid because Phoenix priest used the wrong phrase

Audio

According to Tim O’Malley, the academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, this has happened before, "Now there's records of what was said. There's recordings. It gets out, it gets on the internet. People hear about it," said O’Malley. "So, I think this is something the church is going to have to discuss, how to govern the sacraments in a digital era."

US bishops stress need for Catholics to deepen understanding of Communion

A few months before the bishops' document was presented, Timothy O'Malley, director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, told CNS: "If you pay attention to what the bishops are saying to recent revisions and outlines of drafts of the document, you don't see it 'being sort of political.'

What are God’s pronouns? How the church today is (or isn’t) gendering God

Tim O’Malley, academic director of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Liturgy, noted that Catholic liturgies don’t often rely on pronouns for God — though they are masculine, when present — and they frequently implement the trinitarian language of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Opening the Word: Jesus, the king

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: A serious end

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Draft of U.S. Catholic bishops’ Communion document doesn’t mention Biden or abortion

For Timothy O’Malley, academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, the national controversy about Biden and Communion distracted from the fact that U.S. bishops had been working before his election on a plan to renew the Eucharist.

Opening the Word: Giving all

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

U.S. Church strengthening support for marriage

Timothy O’Malley, director of education at the University of Notre Dame McGrath Institute for Church Life who researches and teaches in the areas of marriage and family, explained that he believes society might be reaching a point of stasis in how far marriage will decline in the U.S.

Opening the Word: The final misunderstanding

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Give it up

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Whoever gives

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Jealousy and ambition: The root of sin

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

The Power of the Latin Mass

Some of the distinctive features of the Latin Mass can be applied to the new Mass, according to Timothy O’Malley, an expert on liturgy who teaches at the University of Notre Dame. 

Opening the Word: The hidden Messiah

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: The hidden Messiah

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Defiled heart, defiled hands

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Bread of life discourse: Parts 4 and 5

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: The feast of the Assumption

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

The U.S. bishops’ document on the Eucharist could benefit young Catholics

Timothy O’Malley, the academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, provides a valuable contribution to the debate over the bishops’ upcoming document when he writes, “Even catechesis around the doctrine of real presence is insufficient for a robust affiliation with the Eucharistic Church.”

Opening the Word: Bread of Life discourse — Part 3

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

The Seemingly Minor Change the Pope Just Made That Is Freaking Out Conservative Catholics

The issue, according to Timothy P. O’Malley, the academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, was that many of the clergy and faithful who were drawn to the traditional mass also believed that the Latin Mass was the only authentic and valid way to worship.

What will your parish look like post-pandemic? It may depend on how it responded to coronavirus

"This is the great reckoning for the institutional church," said Timothy O'Malley, academic director of the Center for Liturgy at the University of Notre Dame's McGrath Institute for Church Life. "A pandemic is never just about illness. Pandemics are about society" and they bring long-simmering areas of conflict to the front burner.

Opening the Word: The return to basics

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

It’s legitimate to debate President Biden receiving Communion. But we should consider our own worthiness, too.

 On my podcast this week, professor Timothy O’Malley offers this insight: “If you want to know how Timothy O’Malley deals with this question of eucharistic coherence: Timothy O’Malley is very concerned about Timothy O’Malley.” This kind of self-reflection is essential for navigating the current debate.

Opening the Word: The supreme generosity of new life in God

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: ‘Not mine but yours’

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Witnesses on earth

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Sharp decline in U.S. birthrate worrying to Church leaders

Timothy O’Malley, the director of education at the University of Notre Dame McGrath Institute for Church Life, identified economics as another factor that contributes to a declining birthrate.

New book looks into the importance of the Real Presence in life of the Church

Timothy P. O’Malley is director of online education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life and academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy.

Opening the Word: One heart, one mind

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Church ponders the pastoral ‘now’ awaiting post-pandemic future

“It’s really important that the church over the next three, four weeks, five weeks, as we start to think post-pandemic more intensely, and even more over this summer period, doesn’t just get back to business as normal, but thinks very carefully about the strategy for cultivating and enriching this communal life right now,” Timothy O’Malley, director of education at the University of Notre Dame McGrath Institute for Church Life told Crux.

Poll finds church membership continues downward trend in 21st century

“The poll doesn’t note that fewer than 50% of American’s don’t believe in God. It’s important to note that across society institutional belonging is not high right now,” said Timothy O’Malley, director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

My 8-year-old son has taught me—a sacramental theologian—how to love the sacraments again.

Timothy P. O’Malley is director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life and author of Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter (Ave Maria Press, 2021).

What will Catholic community look like after COVID?

Timothy P. O’Malley, director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, told Our Sunday Visitor that he believes the next 10 years will be “an extremely challenging” period for parish life in the United States.

Sojourners

From Tertullian to Disney: 2,000 years of Godparenting

“This sponsor would be involved in the process of one's religious formation, vouching that one was in fact ready for admission into the church,” theologian Timothy O'Malley told Sojourners.

Opening the Word: Beloved, come

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: The mystery of family life

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Lessons from John the Baptist: ‘I am not’

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

Opening the Word: Awaiting redemption

Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.