"The Bible has always been political because politics govern human relationships and the good of the earth."

WASHINGTON --  In late August of 1963, on a day fraught with the possibility of hope and danger, Raymond Kemp was drawn into history.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled to speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial to a throng of demonstrators on Washington’s National Mall. 

A priest cautioned Kemp, then a young seminarian, not to go, predicting that someone was going to get hurt.

Another priest at his seminary urged him to go.

“That division has been there in my life since the very beginning,” said Kemp, now a 67-year-old priest.  “One voice says ‘Go. This is where the gospel is.’ The other voice says, ‘I don’t think so.’”

Kemp found refuge from the sun in the shade of a tree, about a football field length from the raised podium. When King captured the crowd with his “I Have a Dream” speech, the course of Kemp’s life was irrevocably altered.

He would spend the next four decades trying to infuse his sermons with King’s passion for social justice and encouraging other priests to do the same. Since 1992, Kemp has been leading “Preaching the Just Word” retreats all over the country, carrying that message.

“He changed my whole approach to the Scripture,” Kemp said. “I thought they were nice words on the page but he used biblical language in a way that was stunning.”

Politics and the Pulpit

On King’s birthday Jan. 15, the Rev. Raymond Kemp ambled into the Tombs, a subterranean restaurant and bar in Georgetown, where he was well-known and warmly greeted.

A large-framed man with a white goatee, Kemp has a presence that could be intimidating if he weren’t so affable. On the way to his table, he joked with the waitress and several Georgetown University students that he knew from classes that he teaches on campus.

His voice has a timbre that reminds a listener of slow rolling thunder -- the kind of voice that could do some serious preaching.

After ordering a cheeseburger, Kemp explained the Preaching the Just Word program that he coordinates. It is an offshoot of the Woodstock Theological Center, an independent organization at Georgetown that was founded by the Jesuits in 1974.

“The notion is to put biblical justice into words,” Kemp said, “to help Catholic priests preach about the social issues of the day.”

The Just Word program orchestrates five-day retreats for priests all over the country. There are guest speakers, group work, and solo reflection exercises to help priests address social concerns, such as povetry and immigration reform, playing out in their own communities.

“Ray was ideal for the Just Word because of his life and his experience,” the Rev. Jim Connor, S.J., former director of the Woodstock Theological Center, said in a phone interview. “The program has been a wake-up call to many priests.”

The idea is to encourage priests to use Jesus’ teachings as inspiration for social action among their parishioners,  Kemp said.

“They get too stuck on individual morality,” he explained. “They preach that one should get right with God by following the commandments. But that’s all part of a larger context.”

Some dioceses turn to the program for guidance on issues like racism and immigration. Kemp quoted a passage from the book of Leviticus as saying “love the alien as yourself.” The program advocates a strong pro-immigration reform stance.

Not all Catholics are receptive to that stance, Kemp admitted.

The Catholic Church’s positions on abortion and the death penalty are well-documented by media and commonly accepted by most parishes, Kemp said. But for some Catholics dealing with immigration, environmental issues and the war in Iraq are more ambiguous subjects.

“The Bible has always been political, though,” Kemp said, “because politics govern human relationships and the good of the earth.”

The Voice of Fear and the Voice of Gospel

Born and reared in Washington, Kemp did not fully understand the racial division of the city until he was a seminarian working in impoverished black neighborhoods. After graduating from St. Mary’s Seminary in 1967, he pastored in two of D.C.’s largest black parishes, until 1992.

“He has made a lifetime commitment to civil rights issues,” said the Rev. John Donahue, S.J., who lectured on social justice for 25 of the Just Word retreats. Donahue also teaches at Loyola College in Baltimore.

When he’s not working the retreats, Kemp teaches classes on race and class at Georgetown University. He also works with former prison inmates trying to re-integrate back into society.

Though his ideas of social justice may not be embraced by all priests, Kemp has reconciled the two voices in his life – the voice that points him to the kingdom of God, and the voice that tells him not to go.

“When the voice of fear speaks,” Kemp said, “I’m pretty clear that’s not the voice of the gospel.”