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A Miracle in Wichita!

The City of Wichita. Image via Wikipedia

Wichita, Kan., June 24 (CNA).-The Congregation for the Causes of Saints is preparing to investigate an alleged miracle in Wichita, Kansas, where doctors are baffled by the unexplained recovery of a young man who had suffered a severe head injury in an accident that had broken his skull.

When her 20-year-old son Chase was seriously injured in a pole-vaulting accident on October 2, Paula Kear and her family began to pray fervently for the intercession of Fr. Emil Kapaun, and asked their friends to do the same.

"It was my sister who had the presence of mind, on the night of the accident, to ask if we should put Chase on the Church prayer line to pray to Fr. Kapaun," Paula explained to CNA. The family also added Chase to the CaringBridge website and had prayer cards printed out to distribute to people at the hospital.

Chase's father, Paul Kear, told The Wichita Eagle that the family was informed "that it was really severe, and that he had fractured his skull from ear to ear, and that there was some…bleeding on his brain." The Kears were told by the doctors that they "didn't have a lot of hope" for Chase, and that he would likely die either in the necessary surgery to remove the damaged piece of his skull or from an infection after the surgery.

Asked how she first heard about Fr. Emil Kapaun, Paula said his story is commonly known in the Wichita area. "My parents were about the same age as Fr. Kapaun, so I heard his name a lot growing up," she told CNA.

"We have a prayer in our parish to Fr. Kapaun that we have prayed for several years," Paula added. She said that the prayer for Kapaun's intercession was said every day at  Mass.

Friends and family of the Kears joined in praying to Fr. Kapuan. "Copies of the prayer were passed around and e-mailed," said Paula. "Everyone was praying."

Miraculously, Chase survived the surgery and walked out of the hospital only a few weeks after the accident that had broken his skull.  "It was shortly after we got to the rehab hospital and I just saw these people that work there just amazed," Paula told The Wichita Eagle.  The doctors were unable to explain the recovery, Chase's parents added.

To members of the Kear family, the reason is clear. "It was a miracle," Paula told CNA. "Absolutely a miracle."

Chase has made a nearly-full recovery and is currently working a summer job and planning to coach pole-vaulting.

Devotion to Fr. Kapuan is strong in the Diocese of Wichita, whose website includes information about his case for canonization. 

Here is the Father Emil Kapaun story:

The Cause for the Canonization of Father Emil Kapaun, an Army Chaplain who died while in a North Korean Prisoner of War Camp in 1951, will be officially opened on June 29. Bishop Michael O. Jackels will be the celebrant of the 10 a.m. Mass in Pilsen, Kan., Father Kapaun’s home town. After the celebration of the Mass, a short ceremony will take place in which the officials of the diocesan canonization process will take their oath of office and the Father Emil Kapaun’s Cause for Sainthood will be officially opened. A picnic lunch will follow.
Father Emil Kapaun, a native of Pilsen, was ordained for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita on June 9, 1940. After serving as a priest in the Diocese, Father Kapaun asked to be allowed to serve as a U.S. Army chaplain. During World War II, Chaplain Kapaun served in the India/Burma theater.
Upon his return after the war, Father Kapaun studied at Catholic University of America and served once again in the Diocese of Wichita. Answering the Army’s call for chaplains, Father Kapaun once again asked to be released from diocesan work to serve another tour in the Army. On Sept. 25, 1948, Father Kapaun was granted permission to re-enlist in the Army. Chaplain Kapaun proved to be a heroic priest and chaplain to the men that he served. Volunteering to stay behind with the injured, Chaplain Kapaun was captured by the North Korean and Communist Chinese forces.
Chaplain Kapaun’s service to his fellow prisoners has become legendary among those who knew of him. Scores of men attribute their survival to Chaplain Kapaun enlivening their hope in better days to come. Chaplain Kapaun was taken to the camp hospital, known to the prisoners as the “death house” where he was left to die. On May 23, 1951, Chaplain Kapaun died. His fellow prisoners wept at their loss.
There has already been considerable work completed toward Father Kapaun’s Cause. Archbishop O’Brien started the ball rolling in 1993 when he called for Father Kapaun to receive the title of Servant of God. Through the past 15 or so years, both the Archdiocese of the Military Services and the Diocese of Wichita have been collecting information on Father Kapaun’s life of virtue. The information gathered thus far will provide a basis for the documentation needed for the canonization process.
On June 29, 2008 two separate commissions will be established to formally scrutinize and document Father Kapaun’s virtuous life. The Theological Commission will be given the task of reviewing all of Father Kapaun’s writings. The Historical Commission will be taking testimony from all who knew or had met Father Kapaun. This will prove to be an extensive investigation of Father Kapaun’s life, from his youth in Pilsen through his years as a Priest in the Diocese of Wichita to his service as an Army Chaplain and his ultimate death in the North Korean Prison Camp.
Once this information has been gathered and documented, it will be sent to the Congregation for Saints in Rome. Dr. Andrea Ambrosi of the Ambrosi Law Firm in Rome will help guide the diocesan phase of the canonization process. Once complete, Dr. Ambrosi will oversee the Roman phase of the process as the cause is presented to the Congregation for Saints.
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Used with permission of Diocese of Wichita