ANNAPOLIS – 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.

The Maryland Catholic Conference represents the public policy interests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Wilmington. The state 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.

Dowling announced his retirement on July 29 to his colleagues gathered in Rhode Island for the annual meeting of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors. 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.”

Among the legislative victories the Conference achieved during Dowling’s 24-year tenure are bans on the execution of juveniles (1987) and persons with mental retardation (1989), the prohibition of assisted suicide (1999), the establishment of the state’s earned income tax credit (1987), and the exclusion of religious cemeteries and health-care institutions from proscriptive regulation.

Under Dowling’s leadership, the Conference also pushed to have the state’s permissive abortion law brought to referendum in 1992 and in the last several years has led advocacy efforts to maintain marriage as the union of one man and one woman, to assist immigrant families, and against using state taxpayer dollars to fund embryo-destructive research. The Conference was also critical in the formation of the Gabriel Network, which provides housing and other assistance to pregnant women in need, and Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, where Dowling serves on the board.

“He is a man dedicated to the Church and its teachings,” said Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli, the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Wilmington who has worked with Dowling for more than a dozen years. “He brings a calm but strong presence to his office.”

Dowling received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton, his master’s degree from Boston University, and his law degree from Georgetown University. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army and was the first nonacademic to be named a National Leadership Fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He was previously a legislative assistant to former U.S. Senator William D. Hathaway of Maine, director of governmental affairs for the American Speech and Hearing Association, and executive director of the American Society of Allied Health Professions. He and his wife, Marian, have three daughters and three grandsons.

Russell, 50, has served the Conference for more than 11 years in two different stints from 1995 to 2000 and 2002 to the present. She is the leading advocate for the state’s 136,000 Catholic and other nonpublic school students and their teachers. Her work helped the Conference secure funding for textbooks and technology used by nonpublic school students (2000), and ensure that nonpublic school teachers have access to Workforce Shortage Student Assistance Grants (2006).

She was also instrumental in the founding of the Maryland Nonpublic Schools Legislative Coalition, the State Superintendent’s Nonpublic Schools Workgroup, and the Mid-Atlantic Catholic Schools Consortium. Russell is a lay consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Catholic Education.

Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, who has worked with Russell both in Maryland and through the USCCB, congratulated Dowling on his achievements and said he looks forward to continued collaboration with Russell.

“Her longstanding association with the Maryland Catholic Conference, her many gifts and recognized achievements will serve her well as she takes on this new challenge,” he said.

Russell said she was honored and humbled by the bishops’ appointment.

“Thanks to Dick’s unparalleled vision, integrity, and ingenuity, the Church holds a vital and highly-respected place in the public square of Annapolis,” she said. “My colleagues at the Conference and I look forward to carrying on that legacy, and to continuing to share the hope and inspiration that the Church’s moral vision offers to the pressing issues that face our society.”

Russell received her bachelor’s degree from Boston College and her master’s degree from St. John’s College. She was previously the associate secretary for parental advocacy at the USCCB, a high school teacher, a parish religious education coordinator, and an editorial assistant at a Catholic newspaper. She and her husband, George, have four sons.

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

Media note: Dowling and Russell are attending the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors meeting in Rhode Island, but are available for phone interviews. Please call Mary Schneidau Sullivan at 410-269-1155 or 301-261-1979 to coordinate. Photos are available upon request. Full copies of the diocesan bishops’ statements are available in accompanying document.