"Lord Jesus, ...."
The fall always brings us to Investiture! I love this weekend full of Order of Malta events including the Investiture Mass with formal procession including so many dignitaries and of course our new investees, the formal Gala dinner, and the Mass of the Subpriory, in addition to the Annual meeting, Defense of the Faith and our Regional dinners! It is a wonderful and deeply spiritual time!
But it is also a time to reflect on the meaning of the promise that our Candidates will make as they are invested. A promise to "always bear witness to the Catholic Faith, to defend the Church, and lead my life in accordance with the teachings of Holy Mother Church...care for the poor and the sick with all my strength.. and obey the Constitution...and fulfill with fidelity and diligence whatever the Order and my superiors impose on me...." We all made this commitment, and we made it for life! It is not a small promise, but a deep commitment. This is not a one time event, but Investiture is a reminder for each of us to renew our own personal commitment to the Order. So I reflect, where am I doing well? What can I do better? How have I grown spiritually? Do I see the Lord in the poor and sick I serve?
Fortunately we have Our Lady of Philermo, our Patroness, and St. John the Baptist and Blessed Gerard to call on to help us live out the promise that we have all made and to strengthen us on our journey to sanctification. And also important, we also have each other, our community of members in the Order of Malta, especially the Federal Association, as we all come together as one family for this annual event. This is a time for all of us to celebrate our promise, whether we are making it the first time, or renewing it in our heart for the 45th time, let us renew that promise with enthusiasm and grow spiritually and in our works together!
By Barbara Ritschel, DM
"Thou has seen fit to enlist me in thy service..."
Monday, September 8th, Feast Day of Our Lady of Philermo, Patroness of the Order of Malta
Friday, Saturday, Sunday 26-28 September, Annual Investiture Weekend
The 2025 Annual Investiture Weekend will be held on Friday, September 26th and Saturday, September 27th in Washington, DC. Please check your email for details or contact the main office.
Schedule of Events
Friday, September 26
12:00 PM Information Table Opens
The Madison Hotel
4:00 PM Annual Members Meeting
The Madison Hotel
4:45 PM Defense of the Faith Forum
The Madison Hotel
His Imperial and Royal Highness, Eduard Habsburg will be the speaker
This is open to all.
Saturday, September 27
9:45 AM. Investiture Mass and Ceremony
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
Vesting at 9 AM
7:00 PM Gala Reception and Annual Dinner
The National Building Museum
Sunday, September 28
**9:00 AM (New Time) Subpriory of Our Lady of Lourdes and Promise of Obedience Mass
St. Ann Catholic Church
With Robes. A reception will follow in the Undercroft.
If you have any questions, please contact Mira Bisesi by calling (202) 331-2494.
Dinner to celebrate our local new Dames!
Roxana Semorile, Montgomery County
We will have a dinner at the Irish Inn at Glen Echo to celebrate our local Candidates being Invested this year at 6 PM on Friday Evening, September 26. Dinner will be a buffet with Pesto Crusted Salmon, Roasted Tenderloin of Beef, and Baked Pasta al Forno with Wild Mushrooms, plus sides. Will will also have salads and dessert. The cost will be $110 per person. Please RSVP to Barbara Ritschel at barbaraff@live.com by September 22 so that I can let the restaurant know how many we will have.
Sanctity of Life Mass and Discussion of the Subpriory and the Constitution
Our Annual Sanctity of Life Mass will be on 1 November. Please mark you calendars for this important event. We will have with us, the Regent of the Subprior of Our Lady of Lourdes, Peter McGuire who will be flying in for this event and lead the discussion of the Subprior and the Constitution. All 4 local Regions (MoCo, DC, NoVA, and Southern Maryland are coming together for this import event. More information will come next month.
Monthly Feasts of the Order:
September 8, Our Lady of Philermo, Patroness of the Order of Malta
"Be it mine to practice charity towards my neighbors, especially the poor and sick."
Share Summer Project to Feed our Hungry Children!
Several of our members including Margaret Melady, Valencia Camp and Edward Treacy are leading the effort to provide food for the neediest children in our regions. They have set up a partnership with Catholic Charities to provide meals for the summer months to children from 4 schools who would otherwise not receive a meal during the summer school break. We have all been sent the instructors for contributing in the past week. Our goal is to raise at least $15,000 and so far have only raised $12,112. The entire project will cost $32,000 and partnering with Catholic Charities will allow us to reach our service goal to feed our hungry children. Each meal packet costs about $20, so a $100 donation will feed 5 children. Please contribute so that the Order of Malta will receive credit for your donation in this partnership and this important summer work. We are hoping to get above our goal so that funds can be reserved for this project for next summer! Thank you for your support! Please contact Edward Treacy if you have any questions at etreacy@verizon.net.
Saturday, September 20, 8:15 AM to noon. Gift of Peace.
2800 Otis St., NE Washington DC
Please join us on Saturday, September 20 when we help the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity caring for the residents at Gift of Peace doing various chores and tasks at the convent run by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. It is located at 2800 Otis Street NE, Washington, DC. We need volunteers to help in this ministry every third Saturday of the month. Please arrive by 8:15 on that Saturday. Many thanks to our new Dame, Roxana Semorile who will assume leadership of this project this month and thank you to Monica who helped run this for the past year and a half! If you plan to attend, please contact Roxana Semorile at roxana.semorile@gmail.com
Saturday, September 20, 8:30 AM, Gatekeepers Resource Club. Hagerstown, MD.
The Gatekeepers prison re-entry program is a successful program helping returning citizens reclaim their dignity by working, paying taxes, while volunteering and helping others who share life struggles. They are changing their lives as they start anew. Please come and accompany them on Saturday, September 20 as they continue on their journey to a new life of hope. We arrange carpooling from a spot inside the Beltway leaving at 8:30 AM for those who want to share a ride. To find out where to meet or if you have any questions please contact Diane Oakley
Tuesday, September 23, 4:30 PM. Wounded Warriors. Dinner and Bingo. Walter Reed National Medical Memorial, Bethesda, MD
Our ministry to the Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed needs about 10 volunteers each month. We provide a monthly dinner to the Wounded Warriors and their families with bingo and fellowship following the dinner. Our next dinner will be held on Tuesday, September 23 and starts at 4:30 PM. The dinner is held in the Wounded Warrior Transition Building at Walter Reed Medical Center. If you can help, please contact Barbara Ritschel by September 9 to allow time to get approval for base access.
We also started a new project to supply the Wounded Warrior "Lending Closet" with items needed for the injured service members and their families as they arrive and have nothing with them. If you would like to donate items, please contact Barbara. Currently the need is for: Keurig Pods, Ramen noodles, Cup of Soup, non-sugar snacks, canned foods such as tuna, soup, etc., and grocery gift cards. Thank you for your generosity. Please contact Barbara Ritschel at barbaraff@live.com with questions.
September 13, 19, 20. SHARE Food Network: Volunteers Needed
SHARE Warehouse, 3222 Hubbard RD, Landover, MD
If you can help for even one day or on an ongoing basis please contact Ninochika Twitty at SHARE by calling (301) 864-3115 Ext. 7011. Volunteers are needed for bagging on September 13, from 7-10 AM; and on September 19 from 9-11AM, and September 20 from 5-10:30 AM. All help is appreciated!
Saturday, October 4, 2025 10 - 11:30 AM, Play Bingo with the Residents at Malta House
4916 La Salle Rd., Hyattsville, MD.
Members and friends of the Order will visit with the Malta House residents on Saturday, September 6 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM. We welcome everyone to visit with the residents, to play Bingo and other board games that brighten their morning. If you can join us please contact Cheryl Hipp.
Tuesday, October 14, 6:15 PM, Jubilee Housing SUCCEED Program Dinner. Euclid Street Apartments, Washington DC
Volunteers are needed to prepare and enjoy dinner with the residents who recently returned from incarceration at Jubilee Housing's transitional housing facility in Adams Morgan. The next dinner will be on Tuesday, September 9. We will meet at the Annunciation Church parking lot on Mass. Avenue at 6:15 to carpool to Adams Morgan and dinner starts at 7:00 PM. As we have built relationships in recent months, the returning citizens share more engaged conversation with us. If interested in joining this rewarding ministry, please email Dorothy Zolandz for more information.
Announcements and Other Related Activities
Class of 2027 Application for Membership is Available.
The Federal Association of the Order of Malta announced that the application form for the Candidate Class of 2027 is available. You can access the application by clicking here. Sponsors of potential candidates should be working with their candidates as they prepare the form and secure the documents that need to be submitted. The application is due Friday, November 7, 2025, but applications may be submitted earlier once they are completed. You can reach out to the Montgomery County Regional Hospitaller Barbara Ritschel or to Maria Bisesi in the Federal Association Office, if you have any questions. I am happy to meet with any potential candidates for the Order.
Other Announcements:
Montgomery County Region Leadership:
Hospitaller: Barbara Ritschel, DM
Spirituality: Linda Budney, DM
Treasurer: Jim Bowe, KM
Vocation Development: Martie Kendrick Kettmer, DM
Communications Leader: Roxana Semorile, Candidate Class of 2025
Past Hospitallers serving as special assistants and assisting in communication and other items: Joan Glasgow, DM and Gaby DeLeon, KM
Do you have a bit of time? If you would like to volunteer in a leadership role, please contact Barbara Ritschel. I am in need of someone to help as a grants liaison and hospitality lead. If you are interested in serving please let me know!
Parish Monthly Mass and Parish Group Meetings:
"Give me the strength I need, to carry out this my resolve..."
Regularly scheduled Masses and times for spiritual discussions in our parishes help us grow our community and grow spiritually, especially as members of the Order of Malta. Please plan to attend a monthly Mass and meeting and pray with the community. Montgomery County and DC Regions each have 2 parish groups, but anyone is invited to any parish group! Please see which best works with your schedule.
For the Montgomery County Region:
Our Lady of Mercy/Little Flower/St. Barts/Our Lady of Lourdes:
Our first meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 10th after the 7 AM Mass at Our Lady of Mercy, in the Parish House. (Please note this location change).In keeping with our charism, the theme for this year is: Local Outreach to the Poor and the Sick. Each month we plan on having a speaker from a local charity or group that supports this theme. To help get us going in this spirit, we thought we’d start with a “view from the top.” Our speakers for the September meeting are Ernie Bono, President, Federal Association and Michael Stankewicz, Executive Director, Federal Association to give us a sense of what the whole Order is doing and how the various local initiatives fit into that larger picture.
Please join us in person and if unable to attend this meeting, it will also be available on zoom.
https://link.edgepilot.com/s/e2055512/cH518vHNIk6DVrF9hlmP_Q?u=https:
//us02web.zoom.us/j/89057655058?pwd=DO3vNgDrsblBqGxMJubbqriqHzDbOg.1
Meeting ID: 890 5765 5058
Passcode: 825697
Thanks to Matt Moore for his leadership the past few years. Going forward we are going to rotate coordinating duties for our Parish Malta Group (Our Lady of Mercy, St. Bart’s, Little Flower). The Mass and parish group meeting is the second Wednesday of the month with Mass at 7 AM at Our Lady of Mercy with the meeting to follow.
Contact:Joan Glasgow at glasgow778@gmail.com
Blessed Sacrament:
The parish group usually meets every second Saturday of the month, the next meeting will be September 13 with the meeting to follow after 8 AM Mass.
Contact: Margaret Melady at margmelady@yahoo.com
GIFT OF PEACE AND THE ORDER OF MALTA
By Shep Abel, KM
The Gift of Peace was established in 1986, when Mother Teresa opened a home for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. With the approval of Archbishop James Hickey, she was granted a year-to-year lease, at a nominal fee, on a property owned by Catholic Charities, located at 2800 Otis Street NE.
At the time, public fear surrounding HIV/AIDS was widespread and often fueled by misinformation. Understandably, some neighbors were concerned about potential contagion. However, those fears were eased, in part, by the location of the property, which is set back from the street and somewhat secluded.
With help from the Federal Association of the Order of Malta, which provided much of the initial furnishings, Gift of Peace officially opened its doors. The home originally consisted of two separate sections: one for men and one for women living with HIV/AIDS. A third section was later added to accommodate men who, while not HIV-positive, were still in need of care and support.
The Order of Malta’s Federal Association began actively supporting the home in 1988. A small group of volunteers from the Order committed to assisting residents directly, an ongoing, hands-on effort that became one of their key service projects. Around this same time, the house also became a residence for Missionaries of Charity sisters in their final year of formation, with roughly 25 sisters living and working there, including about 10 tertians (those in their third year of preparation before final vows).
Volunteers from the Order of Malta played a wide range of roles: answering phones, participating in prayers, serving meals, spending time with residents, and helping them get up and dressed in the mornings. In the early years, the home saw the deaths of three to four residents per month. Thankfully, with advances in HIV treatment, that number has significantly decreased; today, only a few residents pass away each year.
Our support from members of the Order of Malta Federal Association was temporarily halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, but was restarted so that we could continue our mission of bringing Christ to others and offering compassion and care, caring for the poorest of the poor. A group of members from the local Regions join once a month to accompany the residents through fellowship and prayer, or active assistance, and to help the sisters by cleaning rooms and bathrooms, making the beds for the residents, cleaning the Chapel, gardening, getting groceries, or any other help they need.
Click to see our work at Gift of Peace.
THE STORY OF MALTA HOUSE
A précis by Rosemary Casey Carter, DM, Born and Raised in Pittsburgh
In 1995 Rose Bente Lee, DM gave a million dollars to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in honor of her husband. She wanted to build a home in Washington for the frail elderly. Through the efforts of Annelise FitzGerald, DM, the wife of the Hon. William FitzGerald, founder of the Federal Association, James Cardinal Hickey, Archbishop of Washington, who donated the land, and loans from the State of Maryland and Prince Georges County, Malta House was built. Mrs. Lee’s dream came true. While the house was being constructed Annelise gave the Malta House Committee an education on taking care of Our Lords the Poor. Once a month the committee of some sixteen met at the FitzGerald’s house for breakfast. It was an extraordinary experience to see so many plates of Eggs Benedict served at once! During breakfast she invited experts to brief us on every aspect of taking care of, and assisting, the elderly. What an opportunity for all of us! We met for over a year getting educated while we waited for the House to open.
Meanwhile, Victory Housing, the housing affiliate of the Archdiocese of Washington, was preparing to build and operate Malta House. All of the other houses run by Victory Housing were on the campus of a Catholic Parish, which would supply volunteers to assist the residents. In our case, since we had no church, the Order of Malta was to supply the volunteers.
The House was to have an interesting design of 15 bedrooms with baths in one wing with a matching wing of 15 bedrooms with baths on the other side and a garden in between the wings. In the center hyphen was a kitchen between the two wings servicing two living rooms and two dining rooms. This design gave us an opportunity to build the home on a more favorable financial basis than having rooms over one another on a second floor. With this arrangement we also were able to obtain a less complicated occupancy permit from the County. On the partial second floor two apartments were built for on-site staff. The plan of the house is completed with a library for large-print books and books on tapes and CDs, executive offices, supply rooms, a barber shop/beauty parlor, and finally a doctors examining room.
When the house was under construction, I was head of the Spiritual Life Committee. I called my dear friend, Msgr. Kenneth Roeltgen, the Rector of Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I told him about the project. He drove an hour and quarter each way that day from Emmitsburg Maryland to Malta House and thinking he would call me in a few days to see the House a-building, imagine my surprise when he called the next day!
”Irish, what do you really want?” he asked.
Without so much as a pause I coughed out, “Two seminarians from September to May to have lunch with the Residents and give a homily or Bible Study.”
He replied “On one condition. That you be their academic supervisor!”
Click to see our work at Malta House
ST. ANN’S INFANT AND MATERNITY HOME AND THE ORDER OF MALTA HISTORY
Written by Joan Glasgow
The Order of Malta, Federal Association, and St. Ann’s began their rich partnership in 1991. In that year, the Order founded an Auxiliary and tasked the newest members of the Auxiliary with finding works throughout the District, Maryland and Virginia that
fit within the framework of the Order’s mission.
Several charities were vetted by the then board of the Auxiliary, but the goal was to provide ongoing support for charities and very few one-time projects made the cut. A number of those organizations, such as Christmas in April, Share, Children’s Inn at NIH
and of course, St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home were exactly what the board was looking for.
Sheila Miller Dougherty was the first to run St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home as a project for the Auxiliary. The first party was an Easter party at St. Ann’s which allowed us to interact with the residents at St. Ann’s. The members of the Auxiliary found
it rewarding and more parties were planned. During that first year, we had a Halloween party, Christmas Party, Valentine’s Day Party, Easter Party and usually a barbecue in summer at Candy Cane City.
Each event provided the growing base of Auxiliary members a chance to interact with the residents of St. Ann’s who were primarily children and who thoroughly enjoyed each party.
The Board of the Auxiliary tried to encourage the Knights and Dames to join us in these events and that added to numbers with a goal being to have one of our participants for every two residents of St. Ann’s. Sister Josephine, who ran St. Ann’s at that time,
found our parties and organization to be helpful for the residents.
Chrissy Page assumed leadership of the project in 1999 and expanded the scope by inviting local high schools who needed service hours to join us for the various events held.
During that year, one of the Knight’s became our ongoing Santa at Christmas and one of the Dame’s assumed responsibilities for the gifts that each child could request from their list.
In 2017, Tricia Lloyd, DM took over the planning and continued the good work and expanded support by inviting Miss DC and Miss Teen DC to our Christmas Party each year. The party’s continued through Covid by having an outside parade to continue the fun.
As we continue to host and grow the parties at St. Ann’s, the future holds a great outlook for the partnership between St. Ann’s and the Order of Malta. It provides the Order with a great chance for direct volunteering. The volunteers from the Order that show
up when called upon, create a wonderful environment for the residents at St. Ann’s and are providing a positive influence on the next generation.
Coming soon additional historys:
Wounded Warrior, Mercy Clinic, Prison ministry and more!
Barbara Ritschel, DM
Regional Hospitaller
About
In 2004 it was decided to split the very large Washington metropolitan area into two smaller regions: Washington, DC and Montgomery County, Maryland.
Upcoming Event
28th Benefit to Support Saint Luke Institute
Monthly Parish Groups
Blessed Sacrament: Meets second Saturday, Mass at 8AM with meeting to follow.
Our Lady of Mercy/Little Flower/St. Bart's/Our Lady of Lourdes:
The parish group usually meets on the second Wednesday of the month, in the Enzler Room at Our Lady of Mercy Church after the 7 AM Mass. The next meeting is in Sept. 10.
Contact: Joan Glasgow at glasgow778@gmail.come
To view the 2025 calendar of events. Click here
Hospitaller Succession
John Lenczowski: 1992-1995-1998 (Combined MoCo/DC Region)
Michèle Bowe: 1998-2001, 2001-2004 (Combined MoCo/DC Region)
Lita Tracey: 2004-2007, 2007-2010
Michael Conley: 2010-2013
Joan Glasgow: 2013-2016
Joan and Chip Glasgow: 2016-2019
Chip Glasgow and Gaby Deleon: 2019-2022
Barbara Ritschel: 2022-2025
Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
Federal Association, U.S.A.
1730 M Street, NW | Suite 403 | Washington, DC 20036
202.331.2494 | Email Us