A 24 year-old seminarian remains missing after he saved a drowning woman’s life during a kayak trip on the Arkansas River this weekend.
Kansas.com is reporting on the incident which took place on Saturday morning when Brian Bergkamp, a Kansas-native who was enrolled at St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, disappeared underwater after helping a struggling woman out of the water while kayaking with a group of friends.
According to a Sedgwick County emergency dispatch supervisor, the incident occurred at 8:40 a.m. on Saturday when the group was kayaking on the swollen river. Two men and three women, all in separate kayaks, encountered churning water under a bridge where a two-foot drop-off had created a “boil”.
One of the women fell out of her kayak and into the swirling water. Bergkamp, the only member of the group who was not wearing a life preserver, jumped in after her.
In the process of helping her, he “started having trouble himself,” said Wichita Fire Battalion Chief Frank Buck. “He ended up saving her life; unfortunately, we haven’t found him.”
The other members of the group were able to swim to shore.
Meanwhile, crews are continuing to search the river for any sign of the missing seminarian.
“Our focus at this time is finding Brian and providing support to his family,” the Rev. Mike Simone, director of vocations for the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, said in a statement released by the diocese. “We would be most grateful for prayers for them.”
KSNW is reporting on a huge outpouring of support for the missing seminarian and his family.
“Definitely, he was one of the most joyful people I ever met,” said Nicole Walz of St. Cloud, Minnesota, who was friends with Bergkamp. “His laughter was contagious and people loved being around him.”
According to the diocesan website, Bergkamp first heard the call to become a priest at the tender age of eight years. “I don’t know though if I would quite consider this a calling or just my first time I had the desire to become a priest,” he wrote several years ago. “I remember in 2nd grade, my close friend and I would argue back and forth on who would be a priest first. And as time would tell, it looks like we will both be priests at the same time, for we are now both entering the seminary.”
Churches throughout the diocese are continuing to hold prayer vigils for Bergkamp and his family.
“And it is this faith that we know, no matter what the outcome is of this recovery effort, whether we have Brian back or whether he has gone to meet our Lord, we know that he will be and continues to be at peace,” Fr. Simone said.
Regardless of the outcome, we have Jesus’ reassurance that: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend” (John 15:13).
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