Matthew Cortese

Rev. Matthew D. Cortese, SJ, is a PhD student in Liturgical Studies in the department of Theology. Originally from eastern Long Island, New York, he has previously studied at the College of the Holy Cross (A.B., 2009), Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music (M.A.R., 2012), Saint Louis University (M.A., Philosophy, 2017), and Regis College and the University of Toronto (Th.M./S.T.L., 2021). During his Jesuit formation, he taught philosophy and theology at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and served as a deacon for the Hispanic Community at St. Ignatius Church, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He is interested in questions of liturgical reform and the ways in which liturgy intersects with, influences, and forms religious and socio-political identities, as well as the relationship between worship and justice. He hopes to focus on the development of the lectionary in the Roman Rite and related liturgical theological questions. At Kellogg, he is particularly interested in Catholic Christianity and liturgical reform in Latin America, as well as Jewish-Christian interfaith conversations and their ramifications in both the United States and Israel-Palestine.