• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Sulpician Father John Kemper died May 21.

Father John Kemper, restorer of historic St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel, dies at 62

May 28, 2020
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Local News, News, Obituaries

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Sulpician Father John Kemper welcomes  about 20 Sisters of Charity from South Korea to the historic Baltimore home of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 2008. (CR file)

Sulpician Father John C. Kemper, the driving force behind the restoration of the historic St. Mary’s Seminary Chapel on Paca Street in Baltimore and a former superior for his religious society’s Province of the United States, died May 21 after an 18-month battle with esophageal cancer. He was 62.

Known as a gracious and affable man who had a knack for mastering the details of administration, Father Kemper oversaw the restoration of the historic chapel and the building of an eco-friendly visitors center during his tenure as director of St. Mary’s Spiritual Center and Historic Site from 2007 until he was elected provincial superior in 2015.

St. Mary’s Historic Site is home to two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places: a residence where St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lived before she relocated to Emmitsburg and the historic seminary chapel. The site is also home to St. Mary’s Spiritual Center.

“He brought the spiritual center into the 21st century,” said Deacon Vito Piazza, Father Kemper’s successor as director. “He really got the place up-to-snuff. All told, the Sulpicians committed $8 million to the property. It is their patrimony.”

Deacon Piazza noted that Father Kemper had a deep love for history and worked to preserve historic objects connected to the Sulpicians. The religious society, whose ministry focuses on the education and formation of seminarians, established the first Catholic seminary in the United States at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore in 1791.

“He started the cataloging of much of the Sulpician artifacts and patrimony that are found in the Associated Archives,” Deacon Piazza said.

Father Kemper was “extremely meticulous,” Deacon Piazza said, and “could read a blueprint like an architect.”

Sulpician Father John Kemper examines pages of the Saint John’s Bible on display at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore in 2009. (CR file)

“He was extremely detail-oriented,” Deacon Piazza remembered. “He would see a lightbulb out, and shoot me an email. I called him ‘Eagle Eye.’ If something was out of place, he would get the attention of whoever could attend to it.”

Raised in central Pennsylvania, Father Kemper earned a bachelor’s degree at St. Pius X College Seminary in Erlanger, Ky.,in 1979 and then completed master’s degrees in theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg. As a Sulpician, he earned a doctorate in divinity from the Pacific School of Religion of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

Father Kemper was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., April 9, 1983. He became a Sulpician in 1989.

Scott Williams, Father Kemper’s nephew, said his uncle’s family was steeped in Catholicism.

“John saw what great priests he had as a child and wanted to serve as they did,” Williams said.

Father Kemper valued education and encouraged his nieces and nephews to think broadly, Williams said.

“We came from a small coal town in Pennsylvania,” said Williams, a parishioner of St. Patrick in Havre de Grace. “He pushed us to travel, go to art museums and experience culture in as many ways as we could. My fiancé and I would often go to art museums, attend musicals or the symphony with John. He also was key to keeping the family close.”

Williams said Father Kemper pushed him to earn a master’s degree right out of college.

Among his assignments, Father Kemper was associate pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in Camp Hill, Pa. He served on the faculty of St. Joseph’s College in Mountain View, Calif., from 1987 to 1990.

After completing his doctor of ministry degree in 1993, he was vice rector and director of formation for three years (1994-1997) at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Mich. From there, he went to Texas to become the director of the doctorate in ministry program and of the pastoral internship program for the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He served there in various administrative roles from 2001 to 2006.

In 2007, Father Kemper came to Baltimore to serve the Sulpicians in various administrative capacities. As provincial leader, according to information provided by the Sulpicians, he oversaw the renovation of Villa Olier, home of the retirement community of the province, and the renovation of Providence Hall at Theological College, located at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

In 2018, he oversaw the Sulpicians assuming responsibility for St. Anthony’s Seminary in Kachebere, Malawi, to expand the Sulpician mission in Africa, according to the Sulpicians.

Oblate Sister of Providence Sister Marcia Hall, vocations director for the Baltimore-based women’s religious community, said Father Kemper was “very generous” to the Oblates, noting that he served as a confessor to the sisters.

“When the Sulpicians renovated Villa Olier, he asked us to see if there was anything we could use, and sent a truckload of chairs our way,” she said.

Even during his illness, Father Kemper kept reaching out to the Oblates.

“He showed up at the sisters’ jubilee,” Sister Marcia said. “I was surprised to see him.”

In 2008, Sulpician Father John Kemper discusses a traveling exhibit dedicated to the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. (CR file)

Sulpician Father Richard Gula, director of personnel for his province, said Father Kemper accepted “without complaint” the sacrifices of a life in administration. He sustained a “remorseless work ethic” right to the end of his life, Father Gula said. As Father Kemper’s cancer progressed, he would remind his brother Sulpicians that there is more work to do.

“Even weakened by advancing cancer, Father Kemper found the means of doing what would have kept more than a few others busy,” Father Gula said in a written statement. “He gave selfless service to the network of people and structures that make up the province. He approached fundraising as a relational matter. He called it ‘making friends’ for the province. He took great delight and satisfaction in watching things physically take shape and in having a hand in making it all happen, especially his three major projects: St. Mary’s Spiritual Center and Historic Site, Villa Olier and Providence Hall at Theological College.”

Father Kemper asked that his funeral be celebrated with a Mass at the historic St. Mary’s Seminary chapel after social distancing restrictions are lifted. He was cremated and his cremains will be interred in a family cemetery plot in Pennsylvania.

Paul McMullen contributed to this story.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

 

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

George P. Matysek Jr.

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

  • Pope prays for conversion of those resisting climate action at new Mass

  • Castel Gandolfo After 12 years, locals welcome pope back to his summer home

| Latest Local News |

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

| Latest World News |

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

One officer dead, three seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary

Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race

80 years after ‘Trinity,’ Catholic-hosted gathering calls to abolish nuclear weapons

Gaza’s Christian community persevering amid hardship and hope

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break
  • One officer dead, three seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary
  • Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race
  • Remember common decency in immigration enforcement
  • Sponsors – for life
  • Listen for God this summer
  • 80 years after ‘Trinity,’ Catholic-hosted gathering calls to abolish nuclear weapons
  • Gaza’s Christian community persevering amid hardship and hope
  • Nearly one in three conceptions in England and Wales end in abortion, government figures reveal

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en