The Wichita Eagle reports on an amazing story that might just be miraculous:
People in Colwich like to touch Chase Kear’s arm or his shoulder with their fingers. Or they hug him. “Miracle Man,” they say. “Let me touch the miracle.” With anybody else in Colwich, this would be just talk. But it’s not just talk to the Vatican.
Prompted in part by what the Kear family has said publicly, and partly by a preliminary investigation begun by the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, a Vatican investigator named Andrea Ambrosi will arrive from Italy in Wichita on Friday.
He will investigate on behalf of the church in Rome whether 20-year-old Chase Kear’s survival qualifies as a miracle; whether he survived a severe head injury last year in part because his family and hundreds of friends successfully prayed thousands of prayers to the soul of Father Emil Kapaun, a U.S. Army chaplain from Pilsen, Kan., who died a hero in the Korean War.
Ambrosi, a lawyer by training, is coming here to thoroughly “and skeptically” investigate whether Chase’s story is a miracle, said the Rev. John Hotze, the judicial vicar for the Wichita diocese. The church requires miracles to elevate a person to sainthood.
Hotze has investigated Kapaun’s proposed sainthood for eight years, which is only a fraction of the time the church has been considering whether to elevate Kapaun to sainthood.
Soldiers came out of prisoner-of-war camps in 1953 with incredible stories about Kapaun’s heroism and faith. Across Kansas, his memory is kept alive at Wichita’s Kapaun Mount Carmel High School, in his hometown of Pilsen and elsewhere.
Kapaun is so well-known and so highly regarded by area Catholics that the diocese has received other reports of miracles involving Kapaun, Hotze said. Ambrosi on Friday will consult area physicians in at least three such cases, including Chase’s, Hotze said.
There’s more at the The Wichita Eagle.
June 24, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Deo Gratias! Thank you, God for this man's recovery!
I was happy to see the possible intercession in question may have been from Father Kapaun and not more bandwaggon JPII hype (hopefully that is all out of the way now). By all accounts Fr Kapaun should indeed be recognized as a saint; he suffered and died for his faith under an atheist/communist regime and carried on his duties as a priest to all men (the army and the US in general was still segregated back then, but as a true Christian Fr Kapaun did not see men in terms of race).
Fr Kapaun, may all our priests follow your example of faith, honor, tradition and duty.
June 24, 2009 at 7:39 pm
It's funny. I didn't know anything about Father Kapuan until I saw this story. Amazing story. Amazing story of faith.
June 24, 2009 at 8:06 pm
It's not funny, it's sad. The liberal faction of the church has tried to repress such cases/causes since they didn't fit into their view of what a post-Vatican II saint should be. Look at who beatified/sainted under JP II and you'll get an idea. Anyone who stood for "traditional" (aka pre-Vatican II) values was stalled if not blocked. The best example I can give is Padre Pio.
Father Kapaun served his country in the military, never said the Novus Ordo (neither did Padre Pio), died at the hands of Communists and was American. It's not surprising you (nor anyone else outside Kansas) has ever heard of him.
June 24, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for sharing this story with your readers. Here in Kansas (at least in our diocese), we often hear of and pray for the intercession of Father Kapaun. It is always a blessing to share such an amazing story of faith.
June 24, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Wow!
June 24, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Thank God he's alright.
On a side note: the comments below the story are a hoot.