>> Except for his high school and college years, Jeffrey Dauses has spent his life training or serving people in Maryland. A true son of the Free State, he was born in Baltimore, where he had his Catholic seminary training and ordination. He then went on to parish work in Timonium, Clarksville, Bel Air, Hunt Valley and Gambrills, returning to Baltimore as rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in February. As trustee, appointed by Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, of America’s first Catholic cathedral, Dauses, 45, has responsibility for shepherding an active parish, while hosting gala events and preserving a historic edifice designed by architect of the U.S. Capitol, Benjamin Latrobe.

You’ve been entrusted with a major American and Roman Catholic landmark. How does that charge impress you?