ELCA Radio Ministry Features Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former
lieutenant governor of Maryland and the eldest child of
Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy, is the featured guest Nov.
9 on "Grace Matters," the radio ministry of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America. The Rev. Peter W. Marty, host
and senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport,
Iowa, interviewed Townsend about the influences that
shaped her life of "human rights, civic responsibility
and Christian love."
"I think it's important to understand that we are
and feel that we're loved by God," Townsend said. "When
you feel loved, you're much more willing to open yourself
to others and be less angry about what's going on in the
world." She said the pursuit of justice requires a
certain level of energy and anger, "but you don't want it
to control you."
Born on July 4 in Greenwich, Conn., Townsend graduated
from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and earned a
juris doctorate from the University of New Mexico School
of Law, Albuquerque. She holds 10 honorary degrees and
has written articles for such publications as the New
York Times, Washington Post and Washington Monthly.
Townsend served as assistant attorney general of
Maryland and as a deputy assistant attorney general in
the U.S. Department of Justice before her election as
Maryland's lieutenant governor.
"I loved being in office," Townsend said. "One of the
things that I was most thrilled with is the ability to
reduce crime and give people in communities a sense that
they had power -- that this was not government doing things
for them or to them, but that, with them, they could change
their neighborhoods for the better."
Townsend is the author of "Failing America's Faithful:
How Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and
Losing Their Way." In the book, she said, she criticized
some religious leaders for "focusing only on individual
behavior rather than on what our government does -- the
whole sense of justice for a whole community."
Townsend equated "justice" with the command Jesus
stressed to love one's neighbor as one's self. "That
can be very difficult if there are people who are strangers
or different than us, but that's what we're called to do,"
she said. "The most important virtue is love. So, it
means that we have to open ourselves to how other people
live rather than thinking only about our own well-being
all the time."
Townsend and her husband David live near Baltimore.
They are the parents of four daughters.
"Grace Matters" airs on nearly 180 radio stations in
the United States and internationally. Program information
and podcasts are available at http://gracematters.org on
the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog