Richard J. Dowling, who has served as the Catholic Church’s chief policy advocate in Annapolis for nearly a quarter century as executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, will retire before the end of the year.

The Maryland-serving bishops have appointed Mary Ellen Russell, the Conference’s deputy director for education and family life, to succeed him.

Maryland is home to about 1 million Catholics in nearly 300 parishes, and Dowling, 67, has represented them before their elected officials since 1984.

“Dick is known and respected by nearly everyone in Annapolis, whether legislator, staffer, or lobbyist, and his candid but always pleasant demeanor has well-positioned the Conference and the Church it represents in Annapolis,” said Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, the chairman of the Conference’s Board of Governors.

An official date for his retirement has not been set, but it will happen before the end of the year.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity given me to serve in this way,” he said. “I’m grateful to the Maryland-serving bishops for their support and trust, and to all the good people in the parishes and diocesan offices who’ve contributed in so many ways to our education and advocacy efforts.”

Russell, 50, has served the Conference for more than 11 years and is the leading advocate for the state’s 136,000 Catholic and other nonpublic school students and their teachers. For the last several years, she has coordinated the Conference’s efforts to preserve marriage as the union of one and one woman.

“Under her tutelage, the only direction the Conference can take in the coming years is up,” Dowling said, “and it will move upward at high speed, I have no doubt.”

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