Biography

Dick Dowling was Executive Director of the Maryland Catholic Conference for 24 years. Headquartered in Annapolis, the Conference represents the mutual public-policy and pastoral interests of the Catholic bishops serving Maryland in the Dioceses of Baltimore, Washington, and Wilmington. Dick is a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Scranton Preparatory School and the University of Scranton. His master's degree was earned at Boston University's School of Public Communication, his Juris Doctorate at the Georgetown University Law Center. Following his undergraduate years, Dick was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. He thereafter served on the staff of former U.S. Congressman and Senator William D. Hathaway of Maine, as director of governmental affairs of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and as executive director of the American Society of Allied Health Professions. Prior to joining the Conference, he was a National Leadership Fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the first nonacademic to have been granted the prestigious fellowship award. Dick is a recipient of The Saint Thomas More Society's Man for All Seasons Award, presented annually to a Maryland attorney who exemplifies the spirit and ethics of the 16th Century lawyer, writer and statesman; the Frank O'Hara Award, the highest honor bestowed jointly by the University of Scranton and its Alumni Society; the Visionary Leadership Award of the Gabriel Network, which assists women with problem pregnancies; and the Della Strada Award of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, which matches volunteer retirees with anti-poverty organizations. He is a past president of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors, a trustee of the National Catholic Community Foundation, chairman of the board of St. Martin's (assisted-living and nursing) Home, Catonsville, Md., and a member of the boards of the Catholic Mobilizing Network To End the Use of the Death Penalty, Bridges to Peace (supporting cross-community, peace-directed initiatives in Northern Ireland), and the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (matching retirees and anti-poverty service. He retired from his position at the Maryland Catholic Conference at the close of 2008. Dick and his wife Marian, retired after 28 years on the Lower School faculty of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, reside in Bethesda, Maryland. They are the parents of three daughters and the grandparents of three boys and a girl, who was the first child evacuated from Haiti following the catastrophic 2010 earthquake.