Governor, mayor see Archbishop Lori as ‘trusted partner’

Note: This is part of a package of editorial content celebrating the 10th anniversary of Archbishop William. E. Lori’s installation as archbishop of Baltimore and the 45th anniversary of his priestly ordination. Read all the stories here.

When Gov. Larry Hogan was diagnosed with an aggressive, life-threatening cancer in 2015, one of the many people to reach out to him was Archbishop William E. Lori.

“He prayed for me and had the churches praying for me,” Hogan said, “and he had a special prayer service for me, which I greatly appreciated. It was a tough time personally that I was going through and it was good to have the archbishop’s emotional support and spiritual support and prayers.”

It wasn’t the first or last time Archbishop Lori and the governor prayed together. Months earlier, Baltimore was convulsed in civil unrest after Freddie Gray Jr. died in police custody. Hogan and the archbishop prayed at a special liturgy at St. Peter Claver in West Baltimore following the unrest, visiting streets and neighborhoods touched by violence.

Just this year, on the same day Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine Feb. 24, the archbishop happened to be meeting with the governor in Annapolis to discuss a variety of issues including support for the BOOST (Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today) state scholarship program that helps children from low-income families attend Catholic and other nonpublic schools.

“I asked him to join me in praying for the people of Ukraine,” remembered Hogan, a two-term Republican governor. The two men bowed their heads as the archbishop invoked prayers for peace.

Archbishop Lori is a well-known figure in Maryland’s political circles. Known for his gentle manner and for being a steady advocate for issues of concern to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, he meets and speaks regularly with a variety of leaders from both sides of the political aisle.

He has challenged leaders to stand up for the sanctity of life from conception to natural death and has been a strong force against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The archbishop has also spoken against racism and urged lawmakers to support initiatives that promote social justice.

“When you think about his heart, the way that he thinks about everyone in the city and how we need to be the best city for everybody – that’s something that I think will be his lasting legacy, being able to push the church into doing things differently and thinking about things differently,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, a first-term Democrat.

The mayor said he has worked with Baltimore’s spiritual shepherd on a variety of violence-prevention initiatives, including Operation Safe Streets, which partners with Catholic Charities of Baltimore. Other areas on which the two have collaborated include helping the homeless, protecting immigrants and seeing the Mother Mary Lange Catholic School in West Baltimore come to fruition.

“I look at him as a revolutionary, caring person,” said Scott, noting that he too has prayed with the archbishop. “I see him as a trusted partner, working to advance our shared vision for a better, brighter and safer Baltimore.”

Both the governor and the mayor highlighted Archbishop Lori’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic. The archbishop regularly consulted governmental and medical experts in forging archdiocesan and Catholic school policies to keep people safe.

“The archbishop lent his hand in a public relations campaign,” Scott said, “helping to get parishioners vaccinated and doing all that great work.”

Hogan said preserving and increasing BOOST funding for children from low-income families has been an ongoing area of his shared concern with the archbishop.

“The archbishop and I talk every year and on an ongoing basis about how to convince the Legislature to keep the money in,” Hogan said. “They keep trying to fight against it and we always keep trying to preserve it.”

On a personal level, Hogan said he was grateful Archbishop Lori offered his father’s funeral Mass at St. Mary in Annapolis, the governor’s parish. The archbishop knew Hogan’s father, a former Republican Maryland Congressman, when the archbishop was a young priest at the elder Hogan’s parish of St. Joseph in Landover.

“It’s a special kind of privilege to know the archbishop in a personal way and as a man and leader of the church,” Hogan said. “When you’re going through a tough time and when you really need prayers, it’s great to go talk to your parish priest, but it’s even greater when your friend is the archbishop.”

The archbishop himself admitted that he works on building and maintaining relationships with civic leaders. When he first arrived as archbishop in 2012, his staff had set up a series of meetings with key leaders in government and private charities. 

“That really jumpstarted me to having relationships with civic officials, for example, with the mayors who have served during my time, with the police commissioners, with members of the City Council, with the county executives,” he said. “And the only way to do it is relationship building.”

Sometimes that means getting together for breakfast. Lately, many of these meetings have been via videoconference. 

It’s important, Archbishop Lori said, to have “a good enough relationship you can pick up the phone when there’s a problem. It goes either way.

“I’ve been blessed to have Mary Ellen Russell and now Yvonne Wenger to help me build and sustain those relationships. And I think it’s important to do this, and I would also say my predecessors have always done this. This is a Baltimore tradition that I’m proud to uphold,” the archbishop said.

Email George P. Matysek Jr. at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Christopher Gunty contributed to this story.

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