This is the part of the National Catholic Reporter ad that attracted pastoral coordinator Christine Ramirez to the job at St. Joseph in Clintwood, Va.: “A Glenmary priest has trained the parish in social justice. All of the parish is involved in outreach.”

That Glenmary priest who moved not just a few parishioners to involvement in justice issues but the whole parish was Father Bob Rademacher. This senior member, now retired from pastoral duties, paints a picture of retirement quite different from what most people might expect.

While Father Bob is doing quite a bit a traveling in his retirement, it does not involve cruise ships or beaches. As the sacramental minister in Clintwood who also helps with sacramental duties at parishes in Dickenson and Wise counties, he is traveling many of the same roads he traveled when he was pastor. In addition to his sacramental ministry, Father Bob continues involvement in the justice activities that have been such an integral part of his ministry in his years with Glenmary and continue to take him all over the Appalachian region.

Father Bob, a native of St. Paul, Minn., joined Glenmary in 1948 and took his first oath in 1951 after serving as a medic in the Philippines during World War II and in Japan for five or sixth months during its occupation at the end of the war. “Our unit was like you see on the TV show M*A*S*H*,” said Father Bob, whose friends still call him “Doc.”

A priest he met when he was in the service suggested Father Bob consider a religious vocation. An interest in mission work, but a desire to remain stateside after military service overseas, attracted Father Bob to the Glenmary Home Missioners. Father Bob has spent all of his years with Glenmary serving missions in Virginia, Georgia and Mississippi.

Retirement from his pastoral duties has allowed Father Bob to become even more involved in the kind of the organizations he has supported over the years. Two he mentions right away are Fourth World, an international organization dedicated to overcoming extreme poverty, and the Appalachian Peace Education Center board which is affiliated with Emory and Henry College near Abingdon, Va. The board has been meeting every two weeks for the last several months to discuss the situation in Iraq.

Father Bob recently was involved in a “teach-in” about Iraq at the college. “We wanted to let people know that the situation can be taken care of in ways other than war,” Father Bob said. In addition, the board has gathered 500 signatures protesting the impending war. Father Bob is “somewhat hopeful” that, because of the involvement of the United Nations and the opposition of other world powers, war will be avoided.

As a long-time resident of the Appalachian region, Father Bob has a love for the environment that has prompted his active involvement in such organizations as Greenpeace and the Virginia Citizens for Better Reclamation of Land.

Through its efforts, the Virginia citizens’ group has had an impact on legislation concerning strip-mining controls.

“The land is sacred,” Father Bob said. “We need to take care of it. Human life is connected to the land, and if we don’t care for it, we’ll have no life on the planet.”

Father Bob is concerned about the number of pollutants in air and water and the lack of attention that is paid to those pollutants by the current administration.

Voicing concerns about the environment and speaking out in favor of and praying for peace helps Father Bob live as well as preach the gospel.

Father Bob hasn’t totally ignored the activities one normally associates with retirement years, however. He loves to paint, although he admits that he hasn’t spent as much time painting as he would like. He studied oil painting the summer of 1988 in San Antonio, Texas, while on sabbatical with a group of priests and sisters. “We were all over the age of 55 and had a motto, ‘Over the hill and picking up speed!’” Father Bob said.

He continued his painting upon his return to the Southeast, and took up water colors after studying briefly with Jeff Crane, an artist who lives in southeastern Kentucky. “I paint to relax,” Father Bob said, “and that usually comes late at night.”

Retirement has also given Father Bob the time to write 60 pages of memoirs, which he recently gave to Christine Ramirez for distribution to the parishioners at St. Joseph.

After over 50 years as both a pastor and an activist, Father Bob hopes to continue lending his gifts and his voice to the issues and the people of Appalachia that he has come to love.

For more about Father Bob Rademacher