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 125 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.

First blood of the Civil War spilled in Baltimore 150 years ago

April 14, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News

Days after Confederate forces in South Carolina captured Fort Sumter without any casualties, the first bloodshed in the Civil War happened in Baltimore on April 19, 1861.

Cumberland-area parishes consider uniting into one faith community

April 7, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News, Western Vicariate

Cumberland-area parishes currently have two funerals for every baptism. One third of registered parishioners are age 60 or older. The city’s population has declined from 30,000 in 1979 to 20,859 today, while the number of priests serving the five parishes has plummeted from 13 to four – the result of a clergy shortage.

‘The greatest temptation of my life’

March 31, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex

Dominican Father Carleton Parker Jones calls it the “greatest temptation” of his life.

Ravens’ Matt Birk speaks up for life

March 17, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News, Respect Life, Sports

“It seems like our society and media want to push pro-lifers to the side and hope that we would shut our mouths and go away quietly,” said Birk, whose 6’4’’, 310-pound frame struck a distinct figure among the hundreds of marchers who filed through downtown streets. “Let’s not do that.”

Interfaith leaders pray for end to death penalty

March 17, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News

After her brother became Baltimore’s 21st murder victim of 2007, Erricka Bridgeford couldn’t wait for the police to find the person who did it. Bridgeford dreamed of spitting in the murderer’s face. Male relatives thought of even more violent ways of exacting vengeance, she said.

Family of fallen Marine split on Westboro ruling

March 10, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Local News, News

Two members of a family whose son was killed in Iraq had different reactions to a March 2 Supreme Court decision upholding the First Amendment rights of members of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest outside the 2006 funeral of Matthew Snyder at St. John Parish in Westminster.

Paralysis won’t stop priest at Fells Point St. Patrick’s Day Mass

March 10, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Local News, News

Growing up in New York, Redemptorist Father John Murray loved marching with his father in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Now that he uses a wheelchair, Father Murray is about to promote the Saint of Ireland in a way that may prove more powerful than anything he could have done on foot in a parade.

Calling St. Polycarp

March 10, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex

When Marilyn Szewczyk was about to launch a network of pro-life pregnancy centers in Maryland, she turned to St. Polycarp for help. Reasoning that the obscure early Christian martyr didn’t have many people asking for his intercession, Szewczyk figured she’d have easy access to his ear.Lynn Anne Sukeena, one of Szewczyk’s daughters, told me that […]

Cardinal Keeler celebrates 80th birthday

March 3, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News

“You have been and continue to be a star,” Archbishop Sambi said, “a light of hope, not only for the church, but also for the community at large.”

Cardinal Keeler and the Psychic Reader

March 3, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex

Cardinal William H. Keeler, master of the one-liner, meets with George P. Matysek Jr. (CR Staff/Owen Sweeney III)During a March 2 testimonial at a special celebration of Cardinal William H. Keeler’s upcoming 80th birthday, Richard Berndt told a story that demonstrated why friends know the retired archbishop as a master of

Mystery of George Washington’s missing (and recovered) letter to Catholics

February 16, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Blog, The Narthex

Part of a 1790 letter to Catholics written by President George Washington is shown in this photograph. The letter is housed in the archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. (Courtesy Archdiocese of Baltimore) In honor of President’s Day, tomorrow’s issue of The Catholic Review will feature an article on a very valuable letter housed in […]

Judge Garbis rules Baltimore pregnancy center sign law unconstitutional

February 3, 2011
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Local News, News, Respect Life

U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis ruled Jan. 28 in Baltimore that it is unconstitutional to require pro-life pregnancy centers to post signs with language mandated by the government.