Cardinal Keeler Appointed Chairman of Bishops' Pro-Life Committee

Washington, D.C. - - William Cardinal Keeler, the Archbishop of Baltimore, has been appointed the new chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities.

As the Archbishop of Baltimore, Cardinal Keeler has been an outspoken critic of the partial-birth abortion procedure and has encouraged Catholics throughout Maryland to support passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Cardinal Keeler has been a member of the Bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities for many years. On January 21, 1999, Cardinal Keeler celebrated a Mass at the National Cathedral for more than 6,000 pro-lifers on the eve of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

Cardinal Keeler was ordained a priest in 1955 and ordained bishop in 1979. In 1984 he became the bishop of Harrisburg and in 1989 he became the Archbishop of Baltimore.