CV NEWS FEED // An annual pilgrimage through the Kansas Camino opened for registration this week, providing an opportunity to honor and reflect on the life of Servant of God Fr. Emil Kapaun, a military chaplain who gave his life serving others while he was a prisoner of war in North Korea.
The Kansas Camino pilgrimage will span approximately 60 miles, starting at the Church of the Resurrection in Wichita, and ending at St. John Nepomucene in Pilsen. The pilgrimage will begin on Thursday, May 30, and will end on Sunday, June 2.
According to the Diocese of Wichita, hundreds of pilgrims are already projected to join.
“We had an incredible number of pilgrims from out of state last year – about 20 states,” said Scott Carter, the coordinator of the Father Kapaun Guild, according to the diocese article. “It’s a great response to see people from so far away wanting to join us. It’s great to see the mixing of Catholics from the diocese with those from outside of Kansas to honor Father Kapaun.”
Carter noted that during the pilgrimage, “We pray together as we journey and bring our prayer intentions along to Father’s home parish where we end with a Mass in Pilsen. We also stop along the way and listen to stories about Father’s life.”
Kapaun was born in 1916 in Kansas and was ordained a priest in 1940. He was later assigned to serve as an auxiliary chaplain in Herington, Kansas, before being deployed to Japan “in 1950 to join the post-World War II peacekeeping forces of the 1st Cavalry Division stationed there,” according to a website dedicated to advancing Kapaun’s cause for canonization.
Six months later, North Korea invaded South Korea. Kapaun and his division were soon sent to South Korea to help. In November of 1950, Kapaun and his unit were captured by Communist soldiers and held as prisoners of war in Pyoktong, North Korea.
“Kapaun survived seven months in this camp, where he heroically cared for the other prisoners of war, both spiritually and physically,” CatholicVote previously reported:
Prayer in the camp was forbidden, yet Kapaun led his soldiers in prayer for their captors and for themselves. He also volunteered to bury the dead so he could pray over their graves in secret.
In 1951, at age 35, Kapaun died from pneumonia and blood clotting at the prisoner camp in North Korea after intense service to those around him. Just before he died, he told the other prisoners of war, who loved him deeply: “Don’t worry about me. I’m going where I always wanted to go, and when I get there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.”
In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Kapaun a Servant of God, which is “the title given to a candidate for sainthood whose cause is still under investigation, prior to being declared Venerable,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website explains.
For those interested in walking the pilgrimage reflecting on Kapaun’s life, there are options to walk only sections of the pilgrimage, or the whole length.
“The great thing about [the pilgrimage, and walking where Kapaun walked,] is it helps you come to know his personality by entering into life here in the Kansas plains but also what he did in Korea,” Carter added. “He took his roots here to serve God wherever he was called.”
Carter said that the pilgrimage is “a great opportunity to have great conversations, meet fellow Catholics, pray, and get away from the normal craziness of the world. To slow down and listen to the voice of the Lord.”
For more information about the pilgrimage, click here.
