St. John Neopmucene church in Pilsen is preparing for Veteran’s Day. Mass will be at 11am on Nov. 11th. Father Phillip Creider, a priest of the Archiocese of Oklahoma City, will be celebrating Mass. Fr. Creider. Creider was a chaplain for 20 years and has served all over the world. He was a member of the Navy Chaplains Corps. He served with the Artillery and Infantry of the Second Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
His last tour of duty as a chaplain was as Command Chaplain and PHIBRON Chaplain on board the USS BOXER (LPD-4). During his time aboard, he was deployed for seven months as a member of the Western Pacific Cruise whose highlight was to serve as the flagship for an anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia, They participated in the rescue of the Captain of the MAERSK ALABAMA, a civilian merchant vessel captured by Somali pirates.
At the present time, he leads a solitary religious contemplative life, living alone with God. He purchased acreage near Shawnee, Oklahoma. He spends the weekdays following the Benedictine Motto of “Ora et Labora” (work and prayer).
At the completion of the Veteran’s Day Mass, Ray Kapaun, nephew of Father Emil Kapaun, will present a chaplain’s helmet to the Chaplain Kapaun Museum in Pilsen. This helmet was presented to Raymond Kapaun and his wife Lee by the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, shortly after he presented the Order of Military Meret medal, posthumously, to Father Emil Kapaun. The helmet has a white cross, the symbol of a Chaplain on the front, and it has a bullet hole next to the cross. It was presented to Raymond and Lee to show the sacrifices that the soldiers faced as they fought to defend the freedom of South Korea. This helmet shows that many gave their lives to protect those freedoms and that even the chaplains were targeted during the Korean War.
Immediately after the presentation, the parishioners will proceed to the Chaplain Kapaun statue on the church grounds to have a presentation of a wreath in honor of our military men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.
At the completion of the festivities, there will be a luncheon served in the church basement. A suggested donation of $10.00 will help support the Altar Society.
Please join us for a day of respect, admiration and appreciation for our military men and women.
Father Kapaun, pray for us!