THELEAVEN.COM | VOL. 37, NO. 5 | AUGUST 28, 2015
LEAVEN PHOTO BY JILL RAGAR ESFELD
Deacon Dana Nearmyer (left) assists former Army chaplain and Iraq War veteran Father Peter Jaramillo, SSA, celebrating Mass on the hood of a truck from the Korean War.
A HERO REMEMBERED Jeep Mass honors memory of Father Emil Kapaun By Jill Ragar Esfeld jillesfeld@theleaven.org
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ILLIAMSBURG — If you drive southbound on Interstate 35 past Prairie Star Ranch here, you’ll soon run into the Matfield Green rest area. Though it is not known for much more than a gas station and a Dunkin’ Donuts, the rest area also has a historical marker that designates it as exactly 38 degrees north latitude — the 38th parallel. Dr. Paul Camarata, producer of SaintCast, a weekly Internet podcast about saints and a parishioner of Church of Nativity Parish in Leawood, referred to that little-known fact when he spoke to campers and guests on Aug. 1 before a jeep Mass hosted by Camp Tekakwitha and Prairie Star Ranch. Camarata hoped their proximity to the 38th parallel would bring home to his audience the reality of a war fought before most of them were born. A circle of latitude on the Northern Hemisphere, Camarata told the group, the 38th parallel
Honor by President Obama and is also being marked the boundary between North and South considered by the Vatican for canonization (see Korea after World War II. sidebar). On June 25, 1950, North Korea crossed that Telling the audience that “here is the voice of boundary and the 38th parallel has since been a hero,” Camarata played the only known recordsynonymous with the Korean War. ing of Father Kapaun from a sermon delivered on The marker at Matfield Green reads: “During Armed Forces Radio two months the Korean Conflict, 415 Kansans before he went to Korea. died or were listed as missing.” In it, Father Kapaun talked Among those who sacrificed about the peace that God gives their lives was Father Emil Kawhich exists “even in times of paun, a Catholic chaplain from If you’d like to learn more suffering.” St. John Nepomucene Parish in about Father Emil Kapaun, “Father Kapaun is a saint for Pilsen. Dr. Paul Camarata recomour times,” said Camarata. Camarata read from Father mended the book “The MiraCamarata’s speech introKapaun’s Bronze Star citation cle of Father Kapaun: Priest, duced an outdoor Mass honoring awarded in August 1951, recountSoldier, and Korean War this brave, self-sacrificing chaping how the chaplain ran through Hero” by Roy Wenzl. Check this website for lain by recreating his practice of enemy fire to drag wounded solmore details about Facelebrating the Eucharist in an diers to safety. ther Kapaun’s life: http:// He told of how Father Kapaun open field on the hood of a jeep. catholicdioceseofwichita. was captured by Chinese Com“Our staff, parents and camporg/father-kapaun. munists in November 1950 and ers, and all our guests were so spent the rest of his short life moved by the jeep Mass,” said caring for the physical and spiritual needs of his Deacon Dana Nearmyer, camp director and archfellow prisoners of war. diocesan consultant for the evangelization and Father Kapaun died of malnutrition and pneuCatholic formation of youth. monia in the prison camp in May 1951. >> See “CHAPLAIN’S” on page 6 He was posthumously awarded the Medal of
FATHER EMIL KAPAUN