Rev. Dennis McManus, D.Litt.

Bio

Fr. Dennis McManus is a priest of the Archdiocese of Mobile in Alabama. From 1997 to 2006, he served as Associate Director of the Secretariat for the Liturgy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC. Pope John Paul II named him as consultor and theologian to the newly established Vox Clara commission of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on which he has served since 2001; Pope Benedict XVI then appointed Fr. McManus as a consultor to the Congregation in 2010 and then as peritus to the Vox Clara Commission. In addition, he has served as professor of Liturgy at Conception Abbey Seminary, the Dominican House of Studies, Dunwoodie Seminary, St. John the Evangelist Seminary in Boston, and Mt. St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg. Fr. McManus has written widely on liturgical topics but specialized in the application of liturgical translation theory, the development of the Rites of Exorcism, and Judaism in the Roman Rite. He is also the USCCB consultant for Jewish Affairs and was a member of both the Vatican-Baptist dialogue (2007-2012) and the USCCB-Reform Churches dialogue, which issued a historic joint agreement on the form and recognition of baptism (2012). Fr. McManus holds a bachelor’s degree in classical languages and philosophy from St. Mary’s College of California, a master’s degree in ethics from Georgetown University, and a doctorate in historical theology from Drew University.