Katharine E. Harmon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Theology

Biography 

Katharine E. Harmon is Assistant Professor of Theology at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate students, and college seminarians.  She has served as a pastoral musician for the past twenty years in Roman Catholic parishes, as well as in Lutheran, Anglican, and Disciples of Christ congregations. 

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame’s liturgical studies program, Harmon has taught, written and spoken about Roman Catholic liturgy and liturgical renewal in a variety of venues, including The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC; St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN; the University of Notre Dame, and in catechetical programs in her home Archdiocese of Indianapolis.  She has contributed chapters to edited volumes in the fields of both liturgical studies and American Catholicism, and her articles have appeared in journals such as Worship, American Catholic Studies, U.S. Catholic Historian, and Studia Liturgica.  She is the recipient of the 2017 Catholic Press Association First Place Award for best scholarly article in a Catholic publication, and is a regular contributor and member of the Editorial Advisory Council for the blog Pray Tell: Worship, Wit and Wisdom, sponsored by the monks of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

She currently serves as Convener of the Modern Worship seminar of the North American Academy of Liturgy, and is Past President of the Catholic Academy of Liturgy.  She resides in Indianapolis with her husband and daughter, and serves as an accompanist for her home parish. 

Education

• B.A. Church Music and English, Honors College, Valparaiso University, 2004
• M.T.S. Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame, 2006
• Ph.D. Theology, University of Notre Dame, 2011

Affiliations

• Member, North American Academy of Liturgy (2008-present)
• Member, Catholic Academy of Liturgy (2008-present)
• Member, College Theology Society (2008-present)
• Member, Catholic Theological Society of America (2010-present)

Research interests / portfolio

Dr. Harmon’s interests draw together the history of liturgical renewal with pastoral practice, particularly in the modern United States.  She is interested in how the efforts of teaching and advancing “active participation” were communicated, interpreted, and experienced in the lives of the American Catholic faithful, and subsequent influence on the development of Catholic ritual practice.  Her current research includes exploring the role that religious women played in advancing mid-twentieth-century United States liturgical renewal.

Selected publications 

• “‘Feasts Reach Them All’: The Role of the Liturgical Year in Advancing the United States Liturgical Movement, 1926-1959,” U.S. Catholic Historian: Sacrament and Sacramentals 36, no. 1 (Winter, 2018): 53-77.
• “‘That Word “Liturgy” is So Unfortunate’: Learning the Mystical Body and Practicing Catholic Action in the United States Liturgical Movement (c. 1926-1955) American Catholic Studies 127, no. 1 (Spring 2016): 25-44.
• “Learning Your Catholic Language: Attitudes and Approaches to Latin and Vernacular in the United States’ Liturgical Movement,” Worship 87, no. 4 (2013): 309-337.
• With Paul F. Bradshaw, “Ritual,” in The Study of Liturgy and Worship: An Alcuin Guide, Edited by Juliette Day and Benjamin Gordon-Taylor (London: SPCK, 2013), 21-32.
• “The Liturgical Movement and Catholic Action: Women Living the Liturgical Life in the Lay Apostolate,” in Empowering the People of God: Catholic Action Before and After Vatican II, Edited by Jeremy Bonner, Mary Beth Fraser Connolly, and Christopher Denny (New York: Fordham University Press, 2013), 46-75.
• There Were Also Many Women There: Lay Women in the Liturgical Movement in the United States, 1926-1959 (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2013).