Dowling passes reins of Catholic Conference

Friday, Aug. 1, 2008

Dowling passes reins of Catholic Conference

Deputy tapped to succeed veteran lobbyist

by Alan Brody | Staff writer

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Chris Rossi⁄The Gazette

‘‘I couldn’t be happier with the appointment of Mary Ellen Russell as my successor,” says retiring Catholic Conference chief Richard J. Dowling. ‘‘She is smarter than I am, a better lobbyist than I am.”

Richard J. Dowling, the longtime face in Annapolis of the Maryland Catholic Conference, will step down in November, even as his group continues to advocate repealing the state’s capital punishment statute.

Mary Ellen Russell, the group’s deputy director for education and family life, will succeed Dowling, 67, a Bethesda resident who has been executive director since 1984. The conference represents about 1 million Catholics in nearly 300 parishes across Maryland.

Working for the Catholic Conference has been ‘‘a great gift,” Dowling said.

‘‘I don’t know many of my friends who are lawyers who agree absolutely with their clients, but I certainly had the great benefit of that kind of relationship,” he said. ‘‘I’ve always had the sense that I was made for this job and this job was made for me.”

Dowling said he initially planned to resign last year, but held off when Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien was tapped to head the Baltimore diocese in July 2007.

‘‘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,” O’Brien said in a statement.

Dowling’s departure comes as efforts to repeal Maryland’s death penalty ramp up.

‘‘It’s a regret that I’m leaving this work before a repeal is accepted by the legislature,” he said. ‘‘I think we’re really close on that issue.”

Dowling has chalked up a number of accomplishments during his 24-year tenure, including bans on the execution of juveniles (1987) and people with mental retardation (1989), and the prohibition of assisted suicide (1999). He also led efforts to repeal the state’s abortion law by referendum in 1992 — it failed — and has opposed same-sex marriage rights, but failed to ban state aid for stem cell research.

Russell, 50, has worked for the Catholic Conference for more than 11 years in two separate stints. Her current role is as the leading advocate for the state’s 136,000 Catholic and other nonpublic school students and their teachers.

‘‘I couldn’t be happier with the appointment of Mary Ellen Russell as my successor,” Dowling said. ‘‘She is smarter than I am, a better lobbyist than I am, so I have confidence that the work of the Conference is going to get better and better and the positive results are going to increase.”