Catholic Diocese of Wichita
CV NEWS FEED // A new youth camp in the diocese of Wichita, Kansas, has been named after Servant of God Father Emil Kapaun, who was a son of the diocese.
Wichita’s Bishop Carl Kemme announced on the diocese’s website that he “determined that the official name for the new diocesan camp will be The Father Emil J. Kapaun Family and Youth Camp! The camp may also be called by a shorter version: Camp Kapaun!”
The diocese recently bought the former Boy Scout camp grounds, and this summer alone 800 youth attended the diocese’s Totus Tuus program at Camp Kapaun.
Bishop Kemme thanked the faithful for their many suggestions for the camp’s name and explained the significance of Father Kapaun as patron of the camp.
Father Kapaun grew up in a rural part of the diocese before he discerned a call to the priesthood. As a priest he served as an Army chaplain, leading to his death in a prisoner of war camp.
“Father Kapaun’s heroic example of virtue will be a bright light on the importance of growing in discipleship, stewardship and evangelization, in manly virtue and holiness,” Bishop Kemme wrote. “I have every confidence that his virtue, on such full display in his earthly life will be a catalyst for the very kind of virtue and Catholic life that we hope to inspire in our youth today.”
Bishop Kemme continued, “I hope Father Kapaun’s example will inspire the same in our youth as they prepare to take their place among us as future priests, religious, and lay faithful, as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, to be a faithful member of the Body of Christ, the Church.”
Bishop Kemme also wrote that he trusted that Father Kapaun’s “example will also help families meet the many challenges they face today by becoming families where Christ is the center of family life and the goal of each family is to help each other get to heaven. That was Father Kapaun’s goal in his service as a priest soldier and chaplain.”
Bishop Kemme encouraged the faithful to pray for Father Kapaun’s canonization and to ask for his intercession in the diocese’s new project.
