At the John Carroll Society’s 39th Annual Awards Dinner on May 9, four local Catholics were honored, but two popes also took center stage.
In his talk at the dinner, Jim Malloy – the president and CEO of Catholic Charities in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who was also one of four recipients of the John Carroll Society Medal that evening – spoke about how Pope Francis’s encounter with Catholic Charities’ clients, staff and volunteers during the pontiff’s September 2015 pastoral visit to Washington remains “the stuff of legend.”
Malloy – a retired Navy vice admiral who took the helm of Catholic Charities two years ago – noted how the staff of Catholic Charities “cherish a special connection to the late pope,” who died on April 21 at the age of 88.
After addressing a joint meeting of Congress in Washington, Pope Francis met with some of the poor and the homeless served by Catholic Charities and the volunteers and staff members engaged in that work, first praying with them at St. Patrick’s Church and then visiting them at a lunch served by Catholic Charities’ St. Maria’s Meals Program.
Reflecting on Pope Francis’s legacy, Malloy said he was especially moved by something that pontiff once said, “You pray for the hungry, then you feed them. That is how prayer works.”
Malloy noted, “Reading this quote, it struck me – for our late pope and for the dedicated people I am surrounded by every day, the word ‘pray’ is ultimately an action verb.”
In his closing prayer at the John Carroll Society dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito praised the election of the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, which happened the day before.
“What a wonderful historic time it is for the Church and for all of us,” said Bishop Esposito, who added that the cardinals who had gathered in Rome for the conclave “listened to the Holy Spirit, and they could have not picked a better shepherd to lead the Church.”
Pope Leo, a native of Chicago, is the first U.S.-born pontiff, and he served for many years as a missionary and then as a bishop in Peru before serving as the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops.
Bishop Esposito noted how Pope Leo began his papacy by saying the words of the risen Christ, “Peace be with you,” and the new pope “then said we can be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone, to welcome everyone with charity and dialogue and love, and always seeking peace and justice.”
Bishop Esposito thanked the John Carroll Society members for their service to those in need, noting how “each in his or her own way has been a light of Christian hope and an instrument of God’s love.”
The John Carroll Society, founded in 1951, includes nearly 900 Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington who work in legal, medical and other professions and businesses and assist the archbishop of Washington in charitable and community projects. They also participate in spiritual, intellectual and social activities together. The society is named for Archbishop John Carroll, who in 1789 was named as the first bishop in the new United States, leading the Diocese of Baltimore which then included the territory of all 13 original states.
The opening prayer was offered by Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi, the longtime chaplain of the John Carroll Society.
In his remarks, Jim Malloy noted that while growing up in St. John the Baptist Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland, he “learned about faith and the power of hope.”
Malloy, who graduated from St. John’s College High School in Washington and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, said he “will always be a sailor at heart.”
Over his 36-year career with the U.S. Navy, he served as an officer at home, at sea and abroad, commanding two ships and a squadron and culminating in the command of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. He retired from active duty service in October 2022 as the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command. The next year, he became the president and CEO of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Washington.
He said that in serving as the captain of Catholic Charities with a new ship and a new crew, “I am able to employ the most powerful weapon I’ve ever had in my charge – the power of hope.”
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington is the most comprehensive provider of social services in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding Maryland counties. Last year, Catholic Charities’ 47 programs in 29 locations served 158,000 people.
In addition to Malloy, the recipients of the John Carroll Society Medal at the awards dinner included:
- Gerard E. Mitchell, Esq., who is one of the founders and a partner in the leading trial law firm of Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP. He was recognized for his lifelong service to the Catholic Church and to his profession. Mitchell has served on the governing board of The Catholic University of America, and he serves as the President of the Youth Leadership Foundation, an organization that offers character and academic training for inner-city youth. The John Carroll Society recognized him in 2018 with the Pro Bono Legal Services Award for his service to the Catholic Charities Legal Network. A native Washingtonian, he graduated from Gonzaga College High School, Georgetown University and the University of Virginia School of Law.
- Marie Nolan is the dean and a professor in the Conway School of Nursing at The Catholic University of America. She returned to Catholic University as the nursing school’s dean in 2022 after earlier earning her doctorate degree there. Dean Nolan earlier served as executive vice dean of Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Her research has centered on the dignity of the human person as the foundation for a moral vision for nursing and healthcare, and it has focused on the decision-making of patients with terminal illness and their family caregivers. Students began attending classes in the new Conway School of Nursing building at Catholic University in August 2024. The state-of-the-art facility includes classrooms, labs, simulation and clinical learning spaces and study areas equipped with high-tech features to train nursing students.
- Beth Reaves, the president of the Washington School for Girls since 2017, was recognized for inspiring a new generation of girls in Washington to reach their potential. The Washington School for Girls is an all-scholarship, independent Catholic school serving students in the third through eighth grade, primarily from Wards 7 and 8 in the District of Columbia. The school was founded in 1997 by women from the Religious of Jesus and Mary, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and the National Council of Negro Women to provide an equitable education for girls the city. Reaves, who has a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, previously worked as a school administrator in the Philadelphia area and in corporate marketing for a Fortune 500 company.
Jahvin Williams Jr., a student at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, earned first place in the John Carroll Society’s Margaret Mary Missar High School Essay Competition for his essay on the 2025 Jubilee Year theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” The second-place essay was written by Roy Castleberry, a student at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington who attended the dinner as a representative of the five 2024-25 Vaghi Scholarship winners at Archbishop Carroll High School. The annual dinner serves as the primary source of funding for the $4,000 annual scholarships, named for Msgr. Vaghi’s late parents, Agnes E. Vaghi and Joseph P. Vaghi.
