Southern Nebraska Register
All are invited to a Lenten pilgrimage March 23-25, led by Travels with Doris, to the birth places of Venerable Father Emil Kapaun in Kansas and Blessed Father Stanley Rother in Oklahoma.
Father Justin Fulton, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Fairbury and St. Mary Parish in Alexandria, heard about the travel company operated by Doris Broz of Wilber, and specifically the bus trips she led in the region. He approached Broz about a Lenten pilgrimage. She had never done so before, but was very interested.
“Fathers Emil Kapaun and Stanley Rother were formed literally in our backyard,” Father Fulton said, “in Kansas and Oklahoma. Rother actually has relatives in Nebraska. This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know these virtuous men, and a great way to have fellowship and get to know one another as well.”
The goal of fellowship clicked with Broz. A retired teacher, she picked up the business in retirement, and considers her business a service, a “bus family.” Broz organizes trips throughout the Midwest, from Colorado to Michigan and Missouri to Minnesota, often for people who do not want to travel alone or do not wish to drive and put up with the hassles of parking, hotels, and stops.
“We have mothers, daughters, dads, sons, brothers, sisters, cousins, even grandchildren, who travel with us,” she said. “We become a ‘bus family.’ The bus driver takes care of finding our way through cities, so we never have to worry about parking and walking to destinations.”
While there is growing interest in Fathers Kapaun and Rother, the more people hear about the priests’ lives, this is the first Catholic-centered excursion Broz has provided, and Father Fulton is excited to be a part of the first one.
“Perhaps if this is successful, she could cater more to Catholic destinations in Colorado, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Iowa, Chicago, et cetera,” he said.
Participants may join the pilgrimage at several stops Sunday, March 23. Pilgrims will be picked up at 7 a.m. at Shoemakers in Lincoln, 151 SW 48th St.; at 7:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Church in Beatrice, 612 High St., and at 8:30 a.m. at St. Michael Church in Fairbury, 8th & F streets. By 11 a.m. the group will arrive at St. John Nepomucene Church in the small unincorporated community of Pilsen, Kan., for Mass at 11:30 a.m.
After Mass at St. John Nepomucene, pilgrims will visit the adjacent rectory that houses a small museum devoted to the late Father Emil J. Kapaun, who grew up in the church and was briefly its pastor. The buildings include a detailed biography of Father Kapaun and descriptions of the miracles attributed to his intercession.
Father Kapaun, a humble and hard-working farm boy from Kansas, wanted to bring Christ’s love to people in need and found his calling as an Army chaplain. As a non-combatant and prisoner of war, Father Kapaun continually risked his life to serve his “boys,” physically, mentally and spiritually.
Father Kapaun was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing dozens of wounded soldiers at the Battle of Unsan and for remaining with them as they were overcome by the enemy. He continued to serve the men until his death in a North Korean Prison Camp. The Catholic Church is pursuing his cause for sainthood, and many believe he still intercedes for people in need today.
In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Father Kapaun a Servant of God, the first stage on the path to canonization in the Catholic Church. Then Pope Francis, though hospitalized with pneumonia, elevated Father Kapaun to “Venerable” Feb. 24, 2025.
Father Kapaun’s remains were brought to Kansas in 2021 and interred in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. Guests may visit Father Kapaun’s tomb, which will be unavailable later in the year due to planned construction in the Wichita cathedral.
On Tuesday, March 24, the tour will continue to Oklahoma City, for a guided tour of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine along with Mass. The Shrine reflects Blessed Stanley’s missionary church in Guatemala and serves as final resting place for Blessed Stanley Rother.
Blessed Stanley, a farmer’s son from Okarche, Okla., was ordained for his home diocese of Oklahoma City-Tulsa in 1963. After serving in his local diocese for five years, Father Rother joined five priests, three religious sisters, and three laypersons to staff a Guatemalan mission in Santiago Atitlán, serving the Tz’utujil people.
In 2016, Pope Francis officially recognized Father Rother as a martyr, for his faith and refusal to abandon his Guatemalan flock during civil unrest, where he was murdered in 1981. He is the first martyr from the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified. The Rite of Beatification was held in 2017 in downtown Oklahoma City, and was attended by more than 20,000 people from around the world.
Pilgrims will visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial Wednesday and will have Mass at the St. Joseph “Old Cathedral,” a historic church that was severely damaged in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Pilgrims will return approximately at approximately 6 p.m. to Fairbury, 6:45 p.m. to Beatrice, and 7:30 p.m. to Lincoln.
For more information or to register, call Doris at 402-821-2547 or 402-641-7132.
