Remains of revered Kansas priest returned to family

Fr. Kapaun’s 5,400 lb. marble tomb placed on the concrete foundation in the east transept of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita-photo Catholic Diocese of Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The remains of a Kansas priest who is being considered for sainthood were returned to his family, 70 years after he died in a North Korean prisoner of war camp. During a ceremony Tuesday in Hawaii, U.S. Defense officials gave the remains of Rev. Emil Kapaun to his family and officials with the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.

The remains will be flown back to Kansas, where they will be taken first to Pilsen — Kapaun's hometown — before being taken to Wichita, where a funeral is scheduled for Sept. 29. He died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean War.

Kapaun, the Marion County-native, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, served as an Army Chaplain during WWII and the Korean War, and was taken as a Prisoner of War in 1951. He continued to minister to Americans as a POW before passing away on May 23, 1951.

The Most Rev. Clarence Richard Silva, the bishop of Honolulu, has offered to host a Mass on Thursday, Sept. 23, in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, as a ceremonial send-off for Fr. Kapaun’s remains. The Mass is scheduled to be live-streamed from the Honolulu cathedral’s website at 11 p.m. Central Standard Time.