Pilgrims walking with Fr. Kapaun
Pilgrims walk the back roads from Wichita to Pilsen during last year’s Kansas Camino. The four-day event honors Fr. Emil Kapaun, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita whose cause is now under consideration by the Vatican. Registration for this year’s pilgrimage is closed. (Advance file photo)
France, Spain, and Portugal have the Camino de Santiago. The Midwest has the Kansas Camino.
Scott Carter, the coordinator of the Father Kapaun Guild, said the Fr. Kapaun Pilgrimage, a trek from Wichita to Fr. Emil Kapaun’s boyhood church, St. John Nepomucene in Pilsen, will begin Thursday, June 1, and end Sunday, June 4.
Destination Kansas
Several of the pilgrims who take part in the 60-mile Kansas Camino have walked the European camino, which ends at the resting place of St. James the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, he said, but for many, this is the only pilgrimage they have participated in.
“The Camino de Santiago is anywhere from a week to 30 days. Ours is four days,” he said. “I think it’s a lot about the experience of walking, moving, and entering into the life of – hopefully – a future saint and reconnecting with our Lord.”
One of the most beneficial aspects of the Kansas Camino, Carter said, is connecting with fellow pilgrims and realizing that we’re on this journey together.
Those pilgrims are traveling to Kansas from throughout the United States to honor the priest of the Diocese of Wichita whose cause is now under consideration for canonization.
Registrations from all over the world
Kansas Camino organizers have received registrations from as far away as California, Maryland, and Florida – 28 states in total.
“They’re flying in to enter into the life of Fr. Kapaun,” he said. “You’re walking sometimes among the fields as the wheat is growing and you get a sense of the pace of life he grew up in, the challenges he faced, and what formed and shaped him to later do what he did.”
Pilgrims also better understand his faith and the charity and love he had to lay down his life for others, Carter said. “We get a little glimpse of that on the pilgrimage.”
The Fr. Kapaun Pilgrimage includes daily Mass, time for confessions, and stops every two to three miles to reflect on different aspects of Fr. Kapaun’s life. That continues in the evening after the campsites have been set up.
The pilgrimage has grown quickly
Fr. Eric Weldon and a few others blazed in 2008 what would become a pilgrimage involving hundreds, he said. Nearly 400 participated in last year’s event with well over 200 walking the entire route. This year’s numbers will be similar.
Those numbers are logistically challenging, Carter said. “The Brunke family and all the volunteers do a great job of trying to meet those. We have a wonderful crew helping coordinate and move our tents, gear, and bags along with taking care of meals and travel arrangements for those who join or depart.”
Volunteers also lead prayer and also give spiritually enriching talks about Fr. Kapaun’s life and how he has affected their lives.
For details about Fr. Kapaun visit frkapaun.org.