Capodanno's Cause

TOMORROW marks the anniversary of the death of Maryknoll Father Vince Capodanno in Vietnam, where he was killed while administering last rites to troops on the battlefield on Sept. 4, 1967.

Father Joe McGehren and Father Dan Dolan went to Washington, D.C., this morning to attend the annual commemorative Mass for Father Capodanno by the U.S. military which will be held this year in the lower church of Washington's Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

The U.S. military chaplains office has vigorously pursued Capodanno's cause for canonization as a martyr for the faith. He might actually be the first Maryknoller to receive the Church's highest honor, beating out Bishop Francis X. Ford, whose canonization efforts have unfortunately been put on hold out of sensitivity for delicate Vatican/China relations.

The same thing holds for the cause of Bishop Patrick Byrne who died in North Korea during the infamous Death March during the Korean War, although there are no Vatican/North Korean relations to jeopardize nor Church in North Korea to compromise.

Even canonization is political.