• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke keeps this photo in his office. It shows a meeting between

Former Baltimore mayor remembers Cardinal Keeler as ‘special human being’

March 27, 2017
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Local News, News, Obituaries, Urban Vicariate

Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke laughed when he recalled how Cardinal William H. Keeler once tried to reach him at City Hall. The cardinal got through to the mayor’s assistant, who didn’t realize who was at the other end of the phone line.

“Just tell him it’s Bill Keeler calling,” the cardinal told the woman.

“Who?” the woman inquired politely.

“Bill Keeler,” the cardinal repeated. “Just tell him Bill Keeler is calling.”

When the assistant took the message to the mayor, she was stunned to discover the man who called was the spiritual shepherd of approximately half a million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. She promptly called back and put him in touch with Schmoke.

“That was just his way of doing things,” said Schmoke, mayor from 1987 to 1999 and current president of the University of Baltimore. “I thought there was a lack of pomp and circumstance surrounding him. He was very approachable by everyone, from big business people to the guy on the street.”

Cardinal Keeler, who died March 23 at age 86, had consulted Schmoke on a wide variety of issues, including Catholic education and support for people in poverty. The two were especially interested in keeping Catholic schools open in the city at a time when public and private schools alike were facing severe economic challenges.

“There had been a lot of literature about the impact of Catholic schools,” Schmoke said, “but I knew from my own experience that they were important institutions to the neighborhoods.”

The former mayor pointed out that parents who had not been very active when their children were in public schools became very involved when their children enrolled in Catholic schools.

“That had huge benefits for nurturing children,” Schmoke said. “As far as I was concerned, I wanted to encourage as many of those schools to remain open as possible.”

Cardinal Keeler developed the Partners in Excellence program that provided tuition assistance for children from low-income communities.

Schmoke also worked with Cardinal Keeler on developing a new homeless shelter in the city. The former mayor keeps a photo in his office that captures a meeting at the cardinal’s residence with Cardinal Keeler, then-Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O’Malley and former mayors Schmoke, William Donald Schaefer and Thomas D’Alesandro III.

“We discussed the politics of getting the new shelter developed,” Schmoke said. “Only Cardinal Keeler could have pulled off getting that group of people together with smiles on their faces.”

Schmoke accompanied then-Archbishop Keeler to Rome in 1994 when the cardinal was elevated to the College of Cardinals. The mayor and his wife observed that the cardinal’s interactions with St. John Paul II seemed “more than just an informal, professional relationship,”  Schmoke said.

“That was a source of pride for us,” he recalled. “The entire visit and the ceremony were really uplifting.”

Schmoke, who was mayor when the pope visited Baltimore in 1995, said the key to Cardinal Keeler’s effectiveness as a leader was his ability to listen.

“When he disagreed on policy matters, he did it in such a way that you didn’t feel it was a personal attack,” Schmoke said. “I never walked away from a discussion with him thinking that we couldn’t come back and talk further. He always had the best interests of the community at heart.”

Whenever you were in the cardinal’s presence, the former mayor said, “you could tell that this was a special human being.”

 

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

George P. Matysek Jr.

George Matysek, a member of the Catholic Review staff since 1997, has served as managing editor since September 2021. He previously served as a writer, senior correspondent, assistant managing editor and digital editor of the Catholic Review and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In his current role, he oversees news coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a host of Catholic Review Radio.

George has won more than 100 national and regional journalism and broadcasting awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, the Catholic Press Association, the Associated Church Press and National Right to Life. He has reported from Guyana, Guatemala, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

A native Baltimorean, George is a proud 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 five children live in Rodgers Forge. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pope Francis says situation at U.S.-Mexico border is ‘serious problem’
  • Movie Review: ‘The Little Mermaid’
  • Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’
  • TV Review: ‘Mrs. Davis’
  • In honoring anti-Catholic activists, L.A. Dodgers strike out

| Latest Local News |

CEO, authors, NFL coach take part in Catholic college commencements

Connect program centered on empathy, listening

RADIO INTERVIEW: How to grow in your openness to the Holy Spirit

| Latest World News |

Dioceses wake up to youth mental health crisis, helping parents, teachers and pastors take action

Experts hail U.S. surgeon general’s social media warning for youth mental health

Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Dioceses wake up to youth mental health crisis, helping parents, teachers and pastors take action
  • The Beauty of Mass in the Gym
  • Exquisite pizza, the school year winding down, and a shopping day (7 Quick Takes)
  • Experts hail U.S. surgeon general’s social media warning for youth mental health
  • As COVID’s emergency phase ends, Catholic experts share takeaways for the church
  • Missionary of mercy priest: ‘Be Christ to all people’ in a world ‘hungry for the Word’
  • Florida Catholic wife, mom, doctor involved in sainthood causes says Eucharist is central to all she does
  • Nun’s incorruptible remains highlight rich heritage of Black Catholics in U.S., say experts
  • Under surveillance, government pressure, China needs prayers, observers say

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED