Army Saint

For John, BLUF:  Being a Saint may not be about being perfect, but realizing your imperfections and working on them.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Up for canonization is Father Emil J. Kapaun, ordained a Priest in 1940.  Served in World War II and in the Korean War, where he was captured and held prisoner until his death in 1951.

And, he was a hero not just of the Church, but of the military, having been awarded, posthumously, the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions while a POW.

This is all outlined in a story in The New York Times last week, "Spiritual and Secular Mix in Case for Sainthood".  Here is the lede:

Several weeks before he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1940, Emil J. Kapaun sent a letter from seminary to family friends.  With his holy vows imminent, he still sounded like a farmer’s son from a pinprick in the Kansas prairie called Pilsen, a 24-year-old persuaded mostly of his own inadequacy.

“I feel like the dickens,” Kapaun wrote.  “Maybe you do not realize fully what it means to be a priest, but I tell you — after I have studied all these years, I am more convinced that a man must be a living saint in order to take that step.  And that is where my worries come in. Gee whiz, I have a feeling that I am far, far from being a saint.”

This will be an interesting story to follow, and an inspiration to others, I hope.

Regards  —  Cliff