About The Busch School of Business (Saint Michael the Archangel chapel) · Washington, District of Columbia
The Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel is the chapel of the Tim and Steph Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Housed inside the renovated Maloney Hall at the corner of Michigan Avenue and 7th Street (also described as Michigan Avenue and University Drive), it is the spiritual heart of the Busch School and the university's newest chapel, dedicated in the spring of 2019. The 72-seat, handicap-accessible chapel is reserved for Catholic worship and offers weekday Mass, silent Eucharistic Adoration, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation to students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the university, as well as to authorized outside groups. Its artwork and architecture were specifically designed to inspire the formation of virtuous Catholic business leaders.
- Established
- 2019
- Patron
- Saint Michael the Archangel
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Washington
Why belong here
The Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel exists to be the spiritual heart of the Busch School's mission to form virtuous business leaders. As a working academic chapel, it gives Busch School students, faculty, staff, and alumni a daily place to pray, attend weekday Mass, adore the Eucharist in silence on Thursdays, and go to Confession — all within steps of their classrooms in Maloney Hall. Its art deliberately connects professional formation with Catholic Social Teaching: every saint in the windows and figure on the altar panel is meant to model holiness for a business student. For anyone in the CUA community seeking a smaller, contemplative chapel that integrates faith and the calling to business as a 'force for the common good,' this is its home.
Mass times at The Busch School of Business (Saint Michael the Archangel chapel)
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Thursday 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (during Silent Eucharistic Adoration; weekday confessions may also be arranged through CUA Campus Ministry)
Adoration times
- Thursday 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Silent Eucharistic Adoration)
Overview & Identity
The Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel is the chapel of the Tim and Steph Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. Housed in the renovated Maloney Hall, it serves as the spiritual heart of the Busch School and the newest chapel on the CUA campus. Reserved for Catholic worship and administered by the Office of Campus Ministry, it is open to university students, faculty, staff, alumni, and authorized outside groups for Mass, Adoration, Confession, and personal prayer.
- Type: College/University chapel
- Patron: Saint Michael the Archangel
- Dedicated: spring 2019
- Located in: Maloney Hall (corner of Michigan Avenue NE and 7th Street NE)
- Capacity: 72 persons
- Handicap accessible
History of the Chapel
The chapel was built as part of the $47 million renovation of Maloney Hall that created a unified home for the Busch School. Funded in part by a 2016 lead gift of $15 million from the Busch Family Foundation, the project turned a previously underused building into a 61,000-square-foot 'Gothic-chic' facility that opened in January 2019. Fr. Louis Maxmillian, O.F.M. Conv., celebrated the chapel's first Mass on February 18, 2019, and the building was rededicated in March 2019. The chapel's design was entrusted to Spanish firm Studio Granda Architects, with all original artwork commissioned from artists in Spain.
- 2016: $15M lead gift from the Busch Family Foundation
- 2019 (Feb 18): First Mass celebrated by Fr. Louis Maxmillian, O.F.M. Conv.
- 2019 (March): Rededication of Maloney Hall and chapel
- Principal architect: Brian Pilot, Studios Architecture (CUA alumnus)
- Contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
- Chapel design: Studio Granda Architects (Spain)
Architecture & Sacred Art
Every element of the chapel's art was conceived to connect a business school education with Catholic faith. The stained-glass windows depict saints and holy figures chosen as models for business students, and the altar panel is built around the four pillars of Catholic Social Teaching. The tabernacle, made of marble and gold, is a deliberate miniature echo of the nearby Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
- Stained-glass saints: St. Catherine of Alexandria, Enrique Ernesto Shaw, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Margaret Clitherow, Pope St. Gregory I, St. Josemaría Escrivá, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Katherine Drexel, St. Maximilian Kolbe
- Altar panel: Christ in Heaven with figures representing the four pillars of Catholic Social Teaching — St. Matthew the Evangelist (common good), Pope John Paul II (solidarity), St. Teresa of Calcutta (human dignity), and Louis Martin & Marie-Azélie Guérin (subsidiarity); also depicts Pope Leo XIII
- Tabernacle: marble-and-gold scale model of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
- Capacity: 72 persons
- One confessional; no musical instruments
Ministries & Spiritual Life
The chapel anchors the Busch School's spiritual development programming, which exists to help students grow in personal relationship with God while they form as business professionals. Programming is coordinated with the Office of Campus Ministry and draws on the broader CUA faith-and-service ecosystem.
- Personal prayer and spiritual direction in the chapel
- Daily weekday Mass for the Busch School community
- Silent Eucharistic Adoration (Thursdays)
- Sacrament of Reconciliation (during Adoration)
- Apostles on Mission small-group discipleship (mentioned in The Compass newsletter)
- Rosary for Life (October Tuesdays)
- Connection to CUA Campus Ministry faith and service opportunities
The Busch School: Mission & Identity
The chapel is inseparable from the Busch School's mission. The school's motto — 'Truth through teaching and research excellence in the light of the Catholic Faith, promoting business as a force for good' — is lived out in this space. The school invites students to integrate Catholic Social Principles into business practice, quoting Pope Francis that 'Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world.'
- AACSB International accreditation
- Ranked in the top 10% nationwide (#53 of 550+ AACSB-accredited U.S. business schools) by Poets & Quants
- Renamed the Tim and Steph Busch School of Business and Economics in 2016 after a $15M Busch Family Foundation gift
- Dean: Andrew Abela
Chapel Use Policy
According to the CUA Chapel Use Policy, the university's chapels — including Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel — are reserved for Catholic worship. All requests for use are subject to approval by the Office of Campus Ministry. Weddings in the chapel follow the separate 'Weddings on Campus Policy.'
- Eligible users: CUA students, faculty, staff and their organizations; alumni; non-university Roman Catholic groups in good standing with the Archdiocese of Washington; other groups considered case-by-case
- No charge for official university liturgies, registered student groups, faculty/staff/alumni organizations
- $150 one-time chapel fee for other authorized users (plus $30 sacristan fee)
- Music recitals may be approved case-by-case by the University Liturgy Coordinator
- Office of Campus Ministry contact: (202) 319-5575