North American Academy of Liturgy

The North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) describes itself as ‘an ecumenical and inter-religious association of liturgical scholars who collaborate in research concerning public worship.’ The stated purpose of the Academy is ‘to promote liturgical scholarship among its members and to extend the benefits of that scholarship to the worshiping communities to which its members belong.’ NAAL traces its beginnings to December 1973, when Jesuits John Gallen (1932-2011) and Walter Burghardt (1914-2008), specialists in the fields of liturgy and preaching respectively, gathered a group of scholars and practitioners in those fields for a meeting at a retreat house in Scottsdale, Arizona. The...