Fr. John Kapitan, OFM, 74, passed away on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, at Mt. Macrina Nursing Home in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, following complications from esophageal cancer. After 11 years in the U.S. Army, he joined the Order of Friars Minor at age 38. For 30 years, he ministered to Byzantine Catholics in churches across California, Indiana and Ohio.   

Visitation for Fr. John Kapitan, OFM, will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 6, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., followed by the Parastas at 6:30 p.m., at Mt. St. Macrina Monastery Chapel, 500 West Main Street, Uniontown, PA 15401. The Funeral Divine Liturgy will take place in the Monastery Chapel at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7, followed by interment at Mt. Macrina Cemetery.   

Fr. John was born on Sept. 17, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio, to John and Mary (née Krych) Kapitan and graduated from Midpark Senior High School, Middleburgh Heights, Ohio, in 1969. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and Biological Sciences in 1973 from Kent State University in Ohio and a master’s degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, in 1979. He served in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps from 1973 to 1984, retiring as a Major.  

Fr. John was received into the Order of Friars Minor on Aug. 31, 1989, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He made his simple profession on Aug. 18, 1990, and solemn profession on Aug. 20, 1993, both at Holy Dormition Monastery in Sybertsville, Pennsylvania. He received his theology degree from Washington Theological Union and was ordained a priest in Sybertsville on June 11, 1995.  

From 1996 to 1998, Fr. John was administrator of St. Philip the Apostle Byzantine Catholic Church in Sacramento, California. He assumed the same role for St. Athanasius Byzantine Catholic Church in Indianapolis from 1998 to 2004, where he oversaw major repairs to the church building and rectory.   

He was pastor of St. Barbara the Martyr Byzantine Catholic Parish in Dayton, Ohio, from 2004 to 2011, when he moved to Toronto, Ohio, to become pastor of St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Parish. He retired in September 2025, residing in the rectory of St. Stephen Parish in Leisenring, Pennsylvania.  

Fr. John is survived by his friar brothers of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.