Very Rev. Mitred Archpriest Dr. Mark Morozowich, S.E.O.D., director of The Bishop Basil Lostern Center for Ukrainian Church Studies at The Catholic University of America, will give the 19th Pope Benedict XVI Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 23, in the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica. His talk is entitled “Heavenly Worship in Earthen Vessels: Anamnesis in Eastern and Western Liturgical Traditions.” Attendance is free and open to the public.

A Western Pennsylvania native formed in the Ukrainian Catholic Church of his family, Father Morozowich pursued a vocation to the priesthood in the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma, Ohio. He served in Pittsburgh and in Butler before beginning doctoral studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome that yielded a comprehensive study of the Holy Thursday Liturgy in Jerusalem and Constantinople from the Fourth to the Fourteenth Centuries.

He lectures as an associate professor of liturgy at The Catholic University of America, served as the associate dean for seminary and ministerial programs, and was dean of The School of Theology and Religious Studies until 2023. His research focuses upon various topics of liturgical history from penitential practices and the liturgical year to divergent issues in Eastern Christian Mysteries.

The Pope Benedict XVI lecture series was established through the generosity of the late Mr. John and Mrs. Rhodora Donahue and the late Dr. George and Mrs. Margaret Ann McGovern. The first Pope Benedict XVI lecture was given in the fall of 2005 by Dr. Scott Hahn of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Since then, a broad range of speakers has engaged the Saint Vincent community on topics of contemporary interest in the areas of theology, history, artistic culture, and the intersection between faith and public life and between faith and science.