The “yeti” and Fr. John Nepil. Credit: Video footage provided to The Pillar.

Clergy in the Archdiocese of Denver are divided over the handling of a controversial “blood oath” ceremony involving a vice rector and seminarians during a ski trip last year.

A group of seminarians studying at Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary were taken on the trip in January 2024 by then-vice rector of the seminary, Fr. John Nepil, during which they were woken in the middle of the night and invited individually to swear a “blood oath” in a ceremony involving a dagger and a man in a yeti costume.

During the bizarre ceremony, video of which was sent to The Pillar by multiple sources in the archdiocese, seminarians were told to scream as if in pain before returning with a bloodied cloth wrapped around their hand and their mouths taped shut, to a room where others waited for their turn to be brought in.

The Archdiocese of Denver, in a statement to The Pillar, characterized the event as a “farce” and said that “it was, however, part of a deeply imprudent and inappropriate prank,” and that a full investigation had been completed.

“The individual responsible has since been removed from his seminary leadership role and has recommitted to his ongoing personal and spiritual formation,” the archdiocese said.

The fallout of the event has divided students, faculty, and clergy in the diocese, with videos and images of the event circulating for several months.