Keep the Republic - ”The Two Names of a Potential Saint” Episode 3 - Chris Green, Managing Editor, The Journal

Wichita residents are known for pronouncing words a little differently from the norm elsewhere. Whether it’s a street named after a famous English town or the river running through the middle of the city, Wichitans have preserved aspects of a local dialect at a time when American culture has become more nationalized. It’s something even city dwellers themselves sometimes joke about. But there’s one case where the preferred local pronunciation has global implications.

It all has to do with Father Emil Kapaun, a revered Army chaplain and decorated war hero who could one day become one of the Catholic Church’s few American saints. Growing up in Kansas, Father Kapaun pronounced his name like the chess piece, Ka-Pawn. But for more than five decades, the people of south-central Kansas have said his name differently, CAPE-un, even naming a high school after him using that pronunciation. But as the priest’s profile grows, the original pronunciation is re-emerging, spurred on by the veterans he served with and even the White House. This podcast episode looks at the story behind the two pronunciations and why reconciling them represents a leadership challenge. It also uses open data available from the United States Catholic Bishops and other sources to demonstrate, through sonification, how long the path can be to sainthood and how Kapaun could one day be part of a growing group of saints with U.S. ties.

Episode Notes

Symphony of the Saints

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)

Venerable: 1959

Beatified: 1963

Canonized: 1975

St. John Neumann (1811-1860)

Venerable: 1921

Beatified: 1963

Canonized: 1977

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1796-1852)

Venerable: 1935

Beatified: 1940

Canonized: 1988

St. Katherine Drexel (1858-1955)

Venerable: 1987

Beatified: 1988

Canonized: 2000

St. Theodora (1798-1856)

Venerable: 1992

Beatified: 1998

Canonized: 2006

St. Damien of Moloka’i (1840-1889)

Venerable: 1977

Beatified: 1995

Canonized: 2009

St. Marianne of Moloka’I (1838-1918)

Venerable: 2004

Beatified: 2005

Canonized: 2012

Sources: United States Catholic Bishops, various web resources

This podcast was created as part of ‘Data-Driven Storytelling: Making Civic Data Accessible with Audio’; a production, training and research program delivered by Sonify, Wichita Community Foundation and Envision. For this year-long initiative, three hyperlocal newsroom teams in Wichita Kansas worked with fifteen advisors from the blind and visually impaired community to create audio podcasts featuring data sonification. The project was supported by the Knight Foundation as one of seven national winners of their ‘Data For Civic Engagement Challenge’. To learn more, visit https://www.wichita.sonify.io.