The Shepherd Behind the Altar: Lessons I Learned Serving Archbishop Muloy

I still remember the day I learned that, as part of my pre-diaconal program, I would be assigned to assist Archbishop Muloy at Masses and other liturgical celebrations. What should have filled me with excitement instead filled me with anxiety. Believe me, it really did.

Every time I imagined standing beside him at the altar, I had butterflies in my stomach. Like many seminarians, I had heard stories about how particular Archbishop Muloy was when it came to the sacred liturgy. He had an attentive eye for the smallest details—an unnecessary gesture, a missed cue, or a lack of preparation.

To be honest, I dreaded the assignment. I was afraid of making mistakes.

As the days passed, however, something changed. Standing beside him at the altar allowed me to see not merely a bishop who was particular about liturgical details, but a shepherd whose deep love for the liturgy shaped everything he did.

I soon realized that his attention to detail came from something much deeper. He cared deeply about celebrating the liturgy well—not to impress anyone or to be strict for its own sake, but because he believed that God deserves our very best. For him, the Holy Eucharist is the Church’s highest act of worship and one of the clearest ways people encounter God.

The more I served beside him, the more I discovered that his love for the liturgy was inseparable from his love for the Church. The same care he gave to every celebration was the same care he gave to his priests, religious, and the faithful of the Archdiocese. Behind his careful attention was a pastor’s heart. He wanted God’s people to encounter Christ through a liturgy celebrated faithfully, prayerfully, and beautifully.

Only now do I fully understand those lessons.

Today, by God’s grace, I am an ordained priest. As I stand at the altar to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, I often find myself remembering Archbishop Muloy. Many of the things I once struggled to understand have now become convictions that guide my own ministry.

Every detail matters because every soul matters. The way a priest celebrates the Eucharist teaches people how to pray and how to encounter Christ. The liturgy is not about the priest but about leading God’s people into His love, for a priest who loves the altar also learns to love the people entrusted to his care.

Looking back, I smile at the nervous seminarian I once was. Those moments beside Archbishop Muloy have become some of the most valuable lessons of my priestly formation.

I thank Archbishop Muloy not only for teaching me how to serve at the altar, but also for teaching me how to be a priest after God’s own heart. Through his example, I learned that when a shepherd truly loves God, he will also love the people entrusted to his care, and that love is reflected in the way he celebrates the liturgy. (Fr. Dan Baliano)