Father Emil Kapaun is in the second step on the (4 step) path to sainthood for  his heroic work caring for prisoners (and the captors!) during the Korean War. In the photo, he is showing off the stem of his pipe which was destroyed when it was shot out of his mouth.  Canonization is the process through which the Catholic Church elevates a person to sainthood. Lately, it seems some in the media are determined to make the pre-DOGE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into some sort of sainted organization -- when has been anything but. While the Trump Administration is to be commended for nominating a highly qualified person -- Dr. Neil Jacobs --  to head NOAA (still awaiting Senate confirmation), its handling of the DOGE issues has been poor. You can find my thoughts on DOGE and NOAA in this news story from The Dispatch . Among other comments in the article: That said, there are far too many pretending that NOAA and the NWS were somehow sainted organizat...

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” says Jesus (John 15:13). We just learned that Father Emil Kapaun's cause for sainthood has just taken another step. He is now "Venerable" which is the second of the four-step path to being named an official saint. Fr. Kapaun was a Kansan from the little town of Pilsen (north of Wichita) who became the parish priest at St. John Nepomucene in Pilsen. After a few years he felt called to serve in the U.S. military. During the Korean War, as a POW, he gave his life to save his fellow prisoners. The story of his life is here .  In March 2021, his body was found -- in remarkably good condition -- and identified. A genuine Catholic funeral mass could finally be held -- in a full 5,000 seat arena and to a national television audience on EWTN. I mention that because of the priest's incredible story of self-sacrifice has been recognized nationally due to the work of the survivors of that inhumane ...