ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 31, 2008 ELCA Radio Ministry Features Kathleen Kennedy Townsend 08-182-FI 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 [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog