A group of seminarians and their church leader from Denver, Colorado, had one heck of a ski trip after what appeared to be a Yeti woke them up in the middle of the night for a blood oath initiation ritual. The incident has since riled up the leaders of the said church, and though some forgave the “Yeti” as they believe that its actions might have been done in good faith.
For the record, the “Yeti” was just a man who wore the costume as some kind of prank for the seminarians. The incident actually happened a year ago, in January 2024, during Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary’s ski trip, led by Fr. John Nepil. One night during the trip, 15 seminarians were woken up by a man in a Yeti costume.
The “Yeti” was also carrying a dagger and invited them all to a blood oath, where they were told to scream as if they were in pain before returning to their sleeping quarters, brandishing a fake bloodied cloth wrapped around their hand. Their mouths were also taped shut after the scream so as to scare other seminarians waiting outside the ritual room, according to the witnesses and the video sent to The Pillar.
Evidence reached the Archdiocese of Denver, however, and the Yeti blood oath quickly drew the ire of some of the church officials. Fr. John Nepil has since taken responsibility and admitted that the whole incident was just a prank. Despite what some Catholic church officials considered to be harmless, some were deeply worried about the intent of the prank, given how the ritual seemed like hazing. Hence, Fr. Nepil was removed from his position.
“The individual responsible has since been removed from his seminary leadership role and has recommitted to his ongoing personal and spiritual formation,” according to the archdiocese, transcript courtesy of The Pillar
No Yeti for Old Men
It also appears that removing Fr. Nepil from his position as punishment was not enough, as the archdiocese is also considering sanctions for the seminarians who “joined” the Yeti blood oath ritual, even though it was intended to be a prank. Meanwhile, Fr. Nepil has insisted that no actual oaths were taken in the prank and that all the props used were fake.
Nepil did understand why some people would be upset at the prank, however, given how it appeared too similar to a hazing. And while the punishments have been dished out already, people online were thinking that it was a little too harsh and perhaps even an overreaction from the Archdiocese of Denver.
“So this is the problem the Catholic Church is trying to solve? This one? There’s nothing else that needs fixing?” questions ga-co
“I’m going to be honest, this doesn’t sound very Christian,” jokes Rosebunse
“Man, don’t you just hate it when your well-intentioned yeti blood oath goes badly wrong? We’ve all been there!” says mattmild27
