Thursday, 17 June 2010 10:38

Pilgrims walk 75 miles from Wichita to Pilsen
Seventy pilgrims finished a walk from Wichita to St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilsen Sunday, June 6.
Thirty-four started the annual Fr. Emil Kapaun Day pilgrimage Friday morning, June 4, after a Mass at Church of the Magdalen in Wichita. Some walked the entire route, others for a day.
The group spent Friday night at the McNeill Farm in Whitewater. The McNeills are members of St. Mary Parish, Newton. The second stop on the route between Wichita and Pilsen was in southern Marion County next to the Aulne United Methodist Church. The pilgrimage traditionally ends after the 3 p.m. Sunday Mass at St. John Church in Pilsen.
Walkers were between the ages of 10 and mid-60s. They were fed by the St. Mary’s, Newton, Altar Society Friday night and by the Holy Family Parish Knights of Columbus on Saturday night. Chase Kear of Colwich, whose near fatal accident is being submitted as part of the canonization cause for Fr. Kapaun, participated in the pilgrimage.

Participants don’t have to carry their gear. It travels by a van driven by one of three nurses who accompanied the group.
Father Eric Weldon, who blazed the trail last year with a handful of others, said this year’s event was successful – despite the heat.
“Many blessings made this pilgrimage possible,” he said. “I think that many people are still astounded that we are actually doing this. A woman in Peabody stopped her car, asked what we were doing, and gave us a donation on the spot. Another man in Peabody had a book on Fr. Kapaun and asked all the pilgrims to sign it.”
Fr. Weldon said he is happy the pilgrimage has blossomed. “People from around the diocese really like the idea of having this pilgrimage to Pilsen,” he said.