Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • August 20, 2021 8 Feel your faith recharged on Father Kapaun pilgrimage For the past 13 years, the people of the Diocese of Wich- ita, Kansas, have gathered annually for the Father Emil Ka- paun pilgrimage, four days of walking, companionship, and prayer, culminating in the Father Kapaun Day Mass held at St. John Nepomucene Church. As Joe Bukuras recently reported for Catholic News Agency , “The 2021 walk was unique because the Wichita diocese is preparing to welcome the bodily remains of Father Kapaun.” Servant of God Father Emil Kapaun was a United States Army chaplain who served in World War II and the Korean War. He displayed tremendous heroism while on the ont lines of the Korean War’s Battle of Unsan, when he braved enemy fire to rescue nearly 40 men. He was captured with other survivors and marched 87 miles to a prisoner of war camp. As a POW, he inspired his men through courage and sacrifice, stealing food for those who were starving, smug- gling medicine for those who were sick, standing up to communist indoctrination, and regularly leading his men in prayer. On March 25, 1951, Father Kapaun led an Easter sunrise service in a near death state, and he died om malnu- trition and pneumonia on May 23, 1951. In 1953, Operation Glory returned the remains of 1,868 soldiers to the U.S. as part of the Korean Armistice Agree- ment. Father Kapaun’s remains were known to be among this number, but they were unable to be identified and were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu, Hawaii. It wasn’t until 2018 that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Ko- rean War Disinterment Project began a plan at the NMCP to disinter all re- maining Korean War Unknowns. And on March 4, it was confirmed by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran and the Catholic Diocese of Wichita that Father Ka- paun’s remains had finally been identified. Father Kapaun was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Wichita, and he celebrated his first Mass at St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen, where his memory is kept alive through the Chaplain Kapaun Museum. Also based in the Diocese of Wichita is the Father Kapaun Guild, which promotes his cause for canonization. The Father Emil Kapaun Pilgrimage is a 60-mile walk in the heat and over mostly gravelly roads. It is challenging, and pilgrims some- times need to take breaks by riding in support vehicles that follow the group. “This is a humbling experience,” said vet- eran pilgrim Sharon Norden, “but even Jesus needed help on His way to the cross.” Norden describes the pilgrimage as a bonding experi- ence where people share stories of faith, suggest books and podcasts to each other, and avail themselves of the sacra- ments provided by priests who say Mass and hear confes- sion daily. “No one scoffs at saying a rosary on the road or the divine mercy chaplet between conversations,” says Norden. “It is where you feel your faith recharged, just like Father Kapaun recharged the men and they all continued to go on in their imprisonment.” What profound insight this pilgrim shares about the call Christ extends to each of us to strengthen each other in try- ing times. Often, we cannot relieve each other’s burdens, but we can help each other cope with difficult situations, and we can keep hope alive for each other. So let’s all take up this pilgrimage, at least in spirit, to walk in the footsteps of Father Kapaun and answer the call of Christ to recharge the faith of those entrusted to our care. Father Ed Dougherty, M.M., serves on The Christo- phers’ Board of Directors. For a ee copy of the Christo- pher News Note, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org. Light One Candle Father Dougherty This is the sixth column in a 10-part series provided by the Arkansas Catholic. BY CATHERINE UPCHURCH Special to Arkansas Catholic Have you noticed how equently the Scriptures announce tidings of peace? How equently a biblical letter or a visit ends with a blessing of peace? It occurs so often in both the Old and New Testaments that we might miss its very presence and its importance for shaping our attitudes and dispositions as disciples. The ancient Israelites understood peace as a gift of God, manifest in the abundance of nature and in crops to be cultivated, as well as protection om enemies. (Leviticus 26:3-13) It is given in priestly blessings (Numbers 6:26), and desired for the holy city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. (Psalms 122:6-8) While abundance and well-being is a sign of God’s peace, this peace cannot exist without attention to living in right relationship with God and others, especially the poor. (Psalms 85:11-14) Israel’s prophets repeatedly pair God’s peace with such righteousness (as an example, see Jeremiah 6:13-16). The prophets also speak of the Messiah, the bringer and prince of peace (Isaiah 9:5), whom we recognize as Jesus. The Hebrew word translated in the Old Testament as peace is “shalom,” and its Greek rendering, used in the NewTestament, is “eirene.” Both terms signifywholeness and soundness. Nations or individuals may be at war with one another, and true injustices may exist on either or both sides. The peace that God offers does not cover over conflict or ignore it, but seeks to right injustices and bridge the gap between seeming opposites. The peace that Jesus brings is not about the victory of one side over another but about wholeness. In his book, “Let Us Dream,” Pope ancis writes about the challenges of reconciling differences that all too often divide us. He speaks of the necessity of mutual listening, and writes, “We build a people not with the weapons of war but in the productive tension of walking together.” Jesus knew how to do this very well. He walked and talked and even broke bread with known sinners and respected holy men, with zealots and scribes, ignoring the scandal that might result while planting the seeds of God’s true and lasting peace. There is no doubt that peace is challenging on the broad scale of factions among nations and within systems. We recognize that there are no easy solutions to conflicts that rage in all areas of the world. Centuries ago, in a time that was also punctuated by the violence of war, St. ancis of Assisi advised his brothers, “While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.” A major obstacle to prioritizing peace in the world is the absence of it in our own lives, a feeling of “disease” that makes us long for the wholeness that Jesus brings. Even St. Paul speaks of being at war within himself: “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Romans 7:19) The struggle is real for all of us if we are honest, but the struggle is also where we discover our deepest identity in Christ. With his own arrest and crucifixion on the horizon, Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” (John 14:27) This is the same gift of wholeness that Jesus is offering us now, what Paul refers to as “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding,” the peace that will guard our hearts and minds. (Philippians 4:7) Being a peacemaker is part of being a disciple. It’s hard work with plenty of setbacks. It requires a deep trust in God’s ability to work in our own messy lives so that we can work in a messy world, a world that God loves. Wholeness “Do not be aaid to take a chance on peace, to teach peace. The aspiration for peace will not be disappointed forever. Work for peace, inspired by charity which does not pass away, will produce its uits. Peace will be the last word of history.” -- St. John Paul II (World Day of Peace, Jan 1, 1979) Questions for reflection or discussion: 1. How often do you hear words about peace om the Bible and think of it as a call to wholeness and a gift om God? Read some of the passages cited in the article and substitute the word “wholeness” for peace. 2. What real world situations at this time tend to make you anxious for peace? In what practical ways might you respond? 3. Some people, Christians included, believe working for peace is naïve. Perhaps you struggle with this as well. What has helped you to keep the peace of Christ central in your life? 4. How often do you hear homilies about peace in our personal lives and in the larger world? What obstacles do you feel might be limiting some homilists on this topic? Catherine Upchurch is the general editor of the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible and contributes to several biblical publications. She writes om Fort Smith. Be-Attitudes for Believers Upchurch Become God’s people of peace