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.”
“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.”
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
