Hospitaller Region - Montgomery County, MD

A Reflection from Our Hospitaller:

"Lord Jesus, ...."

Friday, August 15th we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ensuring us by her assumption that we too, will someday be taken into Heaven. What a beautiful example our Blessed Mother is for us, both in life and in her earthly death!

Mary is always bringing our needs to her Son Jesus. She is our great intercessor, just as she was at the wedding feast in Cana when she says "they have no wine" and "do whatever He tells you".

There is a lovely phrase for this in German, which classifies icons with Mary's hands open and pointing toward Jesus as "Fürbitten" translated literally "to pray for". Isn't that the example our Blessed Mother gives us in Cana exactly that? She places the needs of the young wedding couple at the feet of Jesus and then instructs the servants to do "whatever He tells you". She is our role model of complete trust and obedience in the Lord. As we pray Friday on her Feast day, let us bring the needs of our poor and sick, all those we serve through our works of charity in the Order of Malta, the needs of the poor and hungry throughout the world to Mary, and ask her to be the great intercessor for our prayers! She brings us hope!

By Barbara Ritschel, DM

 

Spiritual Events:

"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 the invitations sent out by the main office.

Pray for Peace with Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation's Virtual Rosary every Tuesday at 7:00 PM

Ambassador Michèle B. Bowe, GCM, President of the Holy Family Hospital Bethlehem Foundation, asks for prayers for peace in the Holy Land. You are invited to join in a virtual Rosary for Peace every Tuesday evening at 7PM ET. Please Click here to join for the Zoom link for the weekly Rosary.

** Special prayers for Holy Family Hospital and support is needed during this difficult time!

Rosary NEW LINK and Meeting ID and Pass Code for 2025

Pray with Us: Our Zoom Rosary on Wednesday Evening at 7:30 

Knights, Dames and Candidates pray the Rosary on Wednesday nights. With so much to pray for, we start our prayer with sharing our intentions before we pray the Rosary on Zoom at 7:30 PM. Please join us, by clicking here and entering the Passcode 464003. For more information, please contact Diane Oakley here. A special notice will be sent if we need to use a different link and passcode on any Wednesday. 

 

Works of Charity:

 "Be it mine to practice charity towards my neighbors, especially the poor and sick."

 

Regional Projects Schedule and contact information: 

Gift of Peace:  Fourth Saturday of every Month at 2800 Otis Street NE, Washington, DC, contact: Roxana Semorile  or  Monica Young.

Malta House: First Saturday of Month, 10-11:30 AM, please contact Cheryl Hipp 

Wounded Warriors: Third Tuesday of Month, 4:30-7:30 PM, please contact Barbara Ritschel.

Gate Keepers:  Monthly, please see monthly newsletter for dates, please contact Diane Oakley.

 

Share Summer Project to Feed our Hungry Children!

The kids need your help, we are only halfway to our goal of $7K!!

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 instruction for contributing in June. Our goal is to raise at least $15,000. We are currently at $7,000 and need to raise another $8,000!

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. Thank you for your support! Please contact Edward Treacy if you have any questions at etreacy@verizon.net.

 

Announcements and Other Related Activities:

Class of 2027 Application for Membership is Available Now.

Thanks to all who made the recent potential member reception a success, especially Joan and Chip Glasgow who hosted the event! Please continue your efforts to invite individuals interested in the Order to joins us for Masses, meetings, and service projects. Developing vocations to the Order of Malta is the responsibility of all Members.

The Federal Association of the Order of Malta announced that the application form for the Candidate Class of 2027 is now 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.

 

History of Regional Projects:

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!

 

Monthly Feasts of the Order:

September 8, Our Lady of Philermo, Patroness of the Order of Malta