George P. Matysek Jr.

George Matysek, a member of the Catholic Review staff since 1997, is managing editor of Catholic Review Media. He oversees news coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a host of Catholic Review Radio.

George has won more than 150 national and regional journalism and broadcasting awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, the Catholic Media Association, the Associated Church Press and National Right to Life. The Catholic Media Association named him both Editor of the Year and Podcaster of the Year in 2024. He has reported from Guyana, Guatemala, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

A native Baltimorean, George is a graduate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School in Essex. He holds a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a master's degree from UMBC. George, his wife and six children live in Rodgers Forge. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

Artist helps transform blight to beauty throughout Baltimore area

December 3, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, Local News, News

As the clang of passing light-rail trains filled the air, Erin Meye concentrated on touching up a large mural she had completed a few weeks earlier outside Options@328, a pro-life pregnancy resource center in Baltimore that shares a wall with Planned Parenthood.

Tears and prayers greet St. Thérèse relics in Towson

November 26, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Saints, Video

Well more than 1,000 people of all ages reverently filed past the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux during a two-day stop in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Eyes on Christ

November 18, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Amen, Amen Matysek Commentary, Commentary, Feature

I never did walk on water that summer long ago. But I learned that the true miracle is not defying gravity. It is allowing Christ to steady me when I sink, to calm the storms swirling around me and draw me into worship even in the midst of chaos.

Las reliquias de Santa Teresa de Lisieux llegan a Baltimore

November 14, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: En Español

Guardados en un relicario ornamentado de 136 kg, los objetos han viajado desde la Francia natal de santa Teresa como parte de una peregrinación que conmemora tanto el centenario de su canonización como el Año Jubilar de la Iglesia católica.

New director of Office of Life, Justice and Peace hopes to promote dignity of all

November 10, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Evangelization, Feature, Local News, News, Respect Life

Collin Kourtz, a 34-year-old Virginia native who earned an engineering degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, took on his new role this fall in the archdiocese’s Institute for Evangelization, succeeding Erin Younkins.

Relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux coming to Baltimore

November 5, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Consecrated Life, Feature, Local News, News, Saints

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore will again have the opportunity to pray in the presence of St. Thérèse’s relics – some of the bones of the beloved saint – when they return to the Carmelite Monastery Nov. 25-26.

Joyful witness and strong leadership spark surge in vocations in Archdiocese of Baltimore

October 13, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Vocations

This year, 12 men – ages 18 to 35 – have been accepted as seminarians for the archdiocese, including one from Colombia and another from Western Maryland. In total, 60 men are now preparing for the priesthood – up from 28 in formation in 2007 and 52 in 2020. Within the next three years, 22 priests are expected to be ordained.

Dundalk faith community considers options for St. Rita Church

October 7, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Seek the City to Come

Three months after a lightning strike sparked a devastating fire at St. Rita Church in Dundalk, parishioners are weighing in on the future of the heavily damaged building as part of a discernment process that will help Archbishop William E. Lori decide how to move forward.

Book details Redemptorist priest risking everything to reveal hidden dramas of Vatican II

October 6, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Books, Feature, Local News, News

Richard A. Zmuda, a parishioner of St. Mary in Annapolis and author of “The Mole of Vatican Council II: The True Story of Xavier Rynne,” tells the tale behind the pseudonym: Redemptorist Father Francis Xavier Murphy, the priest who became Vatican II’s whistleblower.

Faith fuels John Harbaugh’s NFL coaching style

September 25, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: CR Radio, Feature, Full-Court Catholic, Local News, News, Radio Interview, Sports

Good coaching, even at the highest level, isn’t about winning championships, John Harbaugh said. “It’s about becoming a champion for the people you coach.”

Father Thomas Gills, Western Maryland pastor and military chaplain who aided wounded, dies at 71

September 11, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Obituaries

Father Thomas Gills, a former military chaplain who ministered to critically wounded servicemen and later served as pastor of St. Peter the Apostle in Oakland and St. Peter at the Lake in McHenry, died Sept. 6 at his home in Little Orleans. He was 71.

A depth of gratitude for return of NDP ring lost in shallows

September 8, 2025
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Schools

The ring belonged to Renae Nicola Stamas, a 2020 graduate of Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson. She had lost it almost exactly a year earlier while swimming and playing in the water with her godson during a family visit to Greece.