Sunday, November 23, 2008
Patrick William Kemp, 85, a Catholic priest who was pastor of St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Bowie from 1978
until his retirement in 1993, died Nov. 18 at Anne Arundel Medical Center after a stroke. He lived in Annapolis. Father Kemp was
a native Washingtonian and a graduate of Gonzaga College High School. He served in the Navy during World War II and
piloted a landing craft that reached Utah Beach on D-Day in 1944.
After the war, he graduated from Georgetown University and entered the seminary at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg,
Md. He received a master's degree in theology and was ordained a priest in 1955.
He was an associate pastor of Nativity and Immaculate Conception parishes in Northwest Washington before he was
appointed pastor of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in the Charles County town of Issue in 1968. In 1971, he became pastor of Holy
Name Catholic Church in Northeast Washington.
After his formal retirement, Father Kemp remained active as a substitute priest and assistant at Maryland churches. He regularly
administered the sacraments until shortly before his death.
In addition to his pastoral duties, he was spiritual director of the Washington Holy Name Society and a Catholic women's
volunteer group. He also served as assistant chaplain to a Catholic police and firefighters' association and was director of
cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Survivors include three brothers, Francis E. Kemp of Ashton, Joseph M. Kemp of Millville, Del., and James F. Kemp of
Springfield; and two sisters, Margaret Brooks of Arlington and Catherine Kemp of Washington.
-- Matt Schudel