The more I find out about Father Christiaan Kappes, the more I think that he’s a great priest.
- He’s willing to go to the heart of relations between the Greek Orthodox and the Holy See, knowing how to do this, using Saint Thomas Aquinas, who made a superb study about this very topic, introducing the Orthodox to their own tradition, which is, surprise, surprise, that of Catholic Rome. While 99.99% of all other ecumenists sweep difficulties under the carpet, creating greater problems in future times, Father Christiaan goes where others don’t dare to tread. They want niceness. Father wants charity in all truth. I love that. Good on him.
- He’s willing to go to Greece to do this. I backed away from this some years ago, thinking that the Lord had a different trajectory for my life. I had been invited, insistently, to go to a particular House of Studies near Athens to do some post-doctoral studies on the Church Fathers, something which always has incisive ecumenical impact, something which can change the face of nations. Being deep in history is to be Catholic, after all. I almost jumped on the plane, and had even started to get hold of the various modern Greek pronunciations (having had years of Koine), but instead became a chaplain in Lourdes before teaching at the Pontifical College Josephinum. Father Christiaan, however, threw himself into this particular project. Good on him.
- He was willing to get to know his own tradition first, learning the extraordinary form of the liturgy, the other half, if you will, of the Roman Rite. This demonstrates once again his sensititivity to the flow of history, of reverence before the Lord of History. The Orthodox love that. Good on him.
- I could go on, but you get the idea.
And what about his present situation? Good on him! We pray for his safety. I think we’ll be hearing about a bit of heroism on his part in times to come. The Emergency chaplet to the Immaculate Conception would not be out of place in this case.
Of course, as always, the foxhole saying of “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!” is appropriate here as well. I intend to make some further verification phone calls in these next days. Some things have come my way that make for a scenario which answers questions about what happened at the airport and embassy.
A field agent for this case strongly encouraged the continued use of social media to put pressure on concerned parties. I’m going to be a bit more liberal, if you will, in letting comments through the moderation queue. Say whatever you please.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Praying for the assistance of St. Anthony in locating this holy priest alive and well.
God bless Father Kappes. If what was reported about the American Embassy is true, this is just one more abomination of the Obama administration.
Our family knows Father Kappes personally. He has always been the kind of priest to put the well-being of others ahead of his own. Thank you for assistance in getting the word out. We hope and pray that he will be found safely.
After reading his Latin Mass Magazine article on the 4 Temperaments I LOVE Fr Kappes http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/361/7/c/the_4_temperaments_by_emeraldwings-d4kdxel.pdf . If people read that they will find they are very moved to pray for his well being! I have seen enough to have no doubts he is a good priest.
Has enyone noticed that there was fighting in Athens on September 30 between the fascists & anti-fascists? People were injured and arrested and it continued into October 1. Maybe the translator was somehow involved; it seems she was involved in some political intrigue.
I grew up with Fr. Kappes and lived close by. They are an outstanding family and everyone is praying for his safe return.
“….post-doctoral studies on the Church Fathers, something which always has incisive ecumenical impact, something which can change the face of nations.” Seems to me that once again we are speaking of the constant battle of good against evil. I think most of us forget that fact as we go about out daily lives. Sometimes we can’t see the tree for the forest. There is something fishy going on here and Fr. Kappes must have stumbled upon it. Is the translator really a friend or a plant?
The more I find out about Fr. Christiaan Kappes, the more I think he is Living the Word, and walking the walk. I continue to pray for his safety, and for his family during this troubling ordeal. Thank you for your efforts on Fr. Kappes’ behalf. Good on you!
Nadia is saying on facebook “:) WATCH FOX 59 AT 9AM” and others are saying things such as “:) my grandma just called” and “Omg omg omg praise The Lord !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and “Wonderful news!!!!”
“He made it out [of the country] and made contact he is in good health.” Also the translator is fine.
I am Fr. Kappes’es natural mother who lives in GA. I want to thank all of you for your kind wishes and thank the webmaster for this site.
My son is very dedicated to his work [... snip ... respectfully ... ]
I wish to thank all for their kindness and their caring posts. [... snip ... respectfully ... ]
God bless all of you.
It’s interesting that a few years back the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) said that Summorum Pontificum was actually good for ecumenism. The Orthodox would rather see the traditional Latin Mass than the New Rite, the Mass of Paul VI. For a Church so into Tradition the whole post Vatican II thing just made many Orthodox more firmly believe that Rome, in throwing away basically everything from her past after 1965, truly was not the Church of Christ. The reverence of the old Mass commands respect even from those who are estranged from us and in these times of darkness we could use the return of the Orthodox to the bosom of the Holy Catholic Church. They already have a true priesthood, true sacraments and are far closer to us than any Protestants. Pray that the Orthodox will enter into the bosom of the Holy Roman Catholic Church; there is not much that they would need to do so.