World Youth Day Seoul Inspires Pilgrimage

Between Pilsen, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, the Diocese of Wichita sees a number of pilgrims wishing to encounter Venerable Emil Kapaun. Few, however, have stepped foot in the land where his holiness truly began to shine forth. 

That’s about to change in 2027, when a combined Kapaun Korean Pilgrimage and World Youth Day will lead young adults from across the diocese to South Korea. 

“When it was announced back in 2023 that the next World Youth Day would take place in Seoul, I instantly knew we had to plan a trip,” said Scott Carter, coordinator for Venerable Kapaun’s cause. “WYD is such an impactful event on its own, let alone the chance to enter more fully into Fr. Emil’s story. 

“And then as we were in the middle of planning, an American Pope was elected,” he adds. “It’s almost too good to be true.”

Carter also had to do some detective work, since this type of pilgrimage in Fr. Kapaun’s footsteps would be entirely new. That included tracking down what at first seemed like an impossible dream: the location of the famous photo of Fr. Kapaun celebrating Mass using the hood of his Army Jeep as a makeshift altar. Some critical hurdles must be cleared, Carter said, but he hopes the group can visit it.

The trip, planned by the Diocese of Wichita, is aimed at young adults, ages 18-35, and will take place Aug. 1-13, 2027, indicates Anthony Keiser, who has coordinated WYD pilgrimages in the past and has helped with this effort. 

“It feels like a long time out, but it’s approaching quickly,” Keiser said. “Registrations will be needed by April this year.” 

WYD Watershed
Many of a certain generation remember well the watershed moment in the U.S. Church that was WYD 1993 in Denver. In the weeks leading up to the event, they also may recall the considerable extent to which the U.S. media panned the idea that an “old man from Rome” had anything relevant to say to young people. Those young people responded en masse, showing that the faith is young and alive. 

When the helicopter carrying Pope St. John Paul II tried to land, the noise from the throng that had gathered was so great that it buffeted the aircraft, forcing the pilot to reverse course and find an alternate landing spot. The cheers for the pope hardly ceased from that point forward. 

A similar excitement seems to be stirring for Pope Leo and this WYD, not only in America, but around the world, Keiser and Carter assess. Pilgrims will be able to experience the global church, as millions of young adults from throughout the world gather for prayer, adoration, catechesis from Pope Leo and others, and a closing Mass that is sure to be one of the largest gatherings of human beings in 2027. 

It will truly be One Family, Fully Alive in Christ! and echo the diocese’s pastoral plan and recent campaign, Carter said. Combined with the Fr. Kapaun pilgrimage, WYD promises to be a watershed moment for many. 

Reclaimed for God

After the week in Seoul, the young adults from the Diocese of Wichita will depart for the southeast part of South Korea to walk in Fr. Kapaun’s footsteps. This area around the cities of Daegu and Waegwan was a crucial part of the Pusan Perimeter in the war’s early days, when United Nations forces fought to hold on to the last little part of free Korea. Fr. Kapaun was in the thick of the fighting. 

“To see firsthand the mountains that Fr. Kapaun and his ‘boys’ had to climb is eye-opening,” said Carter, who visited the area last October to help plan the pilgrimage.

“We were able to read letters that he wrote from a foxhole in the area 75 years ago. They really speak of the faith and humor he brought to the brutality of war,” Carter added. “Surrounded by death, he was a spark not only of the human, but of the divine.” 

After visiting the mountainous Korean countryside, the group will head back toward Seoul, with a stop in the town of Anseong to visit a church that Father Kapaun reclaimed for God. 

When the communist North Koreans attacked, the area’s Catholic priests had to flee, and the community went without Mass for two and a half months. When U.S. troops freed the town, Fr. Kapaun found the hospital and began conversing with the nurses – as best they could – in signs, because of the language barrier. They realized he was a priest when he showed them the cross painted on his helmet, as well as his stole, and when he made the sign of the cross.

The Catholic nurses took him to their church, which had been ransacked, but not destroyed. Fr. Kapaun celebrated Mass there the next day, both for his men and the locals. He wrote a lengthy letter home to Bishop Mark Carroll about the incident, describing it as incredibly touching and heartwarming. 

Although today the locals were aware of the history of their brief stint under communist oppression, they were unaware of Chaplain Kapaun until Carter reached out. He was able to meet with the pastor and parish representatives during his trip and pray in the church. Pilgrims on the WYD trip will have the opportunity to celebrate Mass in this Church in honor of Fr. Kapaun. 

“This is truly a pioneering trip,” Carter said. “We will be the first to make a pilgrimage to all these locations in honor of Fr. Kapaun.” 

The trip will finish at the border with North Korea, which also happens to be near the field where the iconic image of Fr. Kapaun celebrating Mass on the hood of his Jeep originated. Locating that field was a surprise in and of itself, Carter attests.

Finding a field

“This can’t really be it,” thought Carter as he leaned closer to his computer, chasing what he thought would be an impossible task. 

It all started with a few lines from Msgr. Arthur Tonne’s 1954 book, The Story of Chaplain Kapaun:

“This picture, taken Oct. 7, 1950, shows Fr. Kapaun celebrating Mass on a battlefield. The site is a grain field three miles south of Munsan, where the United Nations forces made a heroic stand against overwhelming waves of Chinese and Korean Reds. Chaplain Robert E. Lynch sent the picture to Bishop Carroll, who forwarded it to the Kapaun family.” 

A mistake by Msgr. Tonne, Carter knew, involved confusion over a town of a similar name that also figured prominently in Fr. Kapaun’s story: Unsan, North Korea, was the site of the heroic stand on Nov. 1-2, and where Fr. Kapaun was captured.  There’s no going there under that country’s current regime.

Nevertheless, it was a starting point. Carter said he did a quick search for Munsan, South Korea, and found a place only a few miles south of the North Korean border. Next, he hit the history books to see where the 1st Cavalry Division would have been at that time and learned that U.S. forces had already captured Seoul and were amassing south of the border. The 1st Cav was in the Munsan area for a few days and then crossed the 38th Parallel into North Korea on Oct. 9, Carter said. Check. 

Returning to Google Maps, Carter was shocked to find a field still in use exactly three miles south of Munsan. South Korea has undergone massive changes during the past few decades, so he questioned whether the measuring point really corresponded with that of 1950. 

Next, Carter turned to old U.S. Army war maps. They showed Munsan, much smaller, but located at the same bend in the river, with the same field three miles due south. Check two. And yet, the surrounding area contained a number of other fields, some a mere four or five miles from town. How could he be sure he had the correct one? 

Staring at his computer screen, Carter recalls feeling his heart start to race as he spotted a blue overlay on a tiny access road cutting across the field. Google Maps had sent its Street View car down that little road. Carter pulled up the image from the ground, checking out the terrain and general location. 

“I didn’t expect to find much, but there were land markers in the background – low mountain ridges on either side of the field,” he said. “Our prayer cards with the image of Fr. Kapaun are cropped a little, so I brought out the full photo and looked closer at the two hilltops on the left side, just over his assistant’s shoulders. Back, on the computer, I navigated a little farther down the field, looked toward the north, and was in shock: the two hills matched up perfectly for shape and distance. This had to be it.”

“My biggest thought was ‘How is it even possible that this is still a field after 75 years?’” 

On his scouting trip, Carter and the pilgrimage company director visited the field, praying the prayer for Fr. Kapaun’s cause for sainthood. Although he cited logistical challenges – such as tracking down the field’s owners – he expressed hope that the WYD pilgrimage could include a stop at the field and possibly even a celebration of Mass there.

Through it all, Carter says, Fr. Kapaun seems to have a hand in things. A couple of days later in the trip, Carter’s path crossed with that of a retired Catholic Korean General who was very interested. The general is helping explore options for the site or nearby with the Korean Military Diocese. 

“Whether we make it to the field or not, we hope to celebrate Mass with a Jeep somewhere near the border,” Carter said. “It will be a fitting way to end the pilgrimage.” 

He says those who will be between the ages of 18 and 35 on Aug. 1, 2027 can learn more at www.frkapaun.org/wyd. Registration is due on April 20 this year. Those who are unable to attend but want to contribute can contact their pastor about sponsoring a young adult from their parish, or can reach out to Carter at [email protected].