1860-2002

By the 1860’s, a small group of Catholic families had settled in the Papillion Area. On occasion they were visited by a priest from Omaha. The first priest was Fr. John Curtis. Later on, Fr. William Kelly, the first priest ordained in the Nebraska Territory, also served them. The first Catholic families included: Michael Dunn, John Gallagher, Patrick Buskly, Edward Nolan, Patrick Mulligan, and Jay Dorsey. One of the memories of Edward Nolan was that mass was held in private homes or the Union Pacific Railroad Section house and his mother, who was a Presbyterian, made the communion hosts between two flatirons.

A few years later, the families of Michael Tex, Thomas Sweetman, James Ryan, John Schram, and Louis Lesieur joined the parish. In 1876, Fr. James Martin, newly ordained assistant at the St. Celicia Cathedral, served local families. Irish born Fr. Martin was assigned pastor of Forest City, as settlement where the Elkhorn and Platte Rivers join, close to present-day Gretna, Nebraska. In 1877, a mission parish in Papillion, which he called St. Columbkille, was assigned to him. Mass was said once a month for the next three years.

The first church was built in 1878 and $1,500. It had 16 pews for 13 families and was named St. Columbkille. It stood on the Northwest corner of 5th and Washington Street.

In 1880, Fr. Martin was transferred and replaced by Fr. George Emblen. In 1881, Fr. John Wallace, replaced Fr. Emblen and served until 1893. Masses were held on the second and fifth Sunday of the month. In 1881, there were 23 families consisting of 155 people. There was slow growth and by 1894, the parish had only increased by two families with 25 people.

In 1897, a priest was assigned to St. Columbkille and to the mission church in Elkhorn, Nebraska, and services were held every other week. Travel was on the Union Pacific Railroad. By 1917, Elkhorn had its own priest.

The first full-time priest and pastor of St. Columbkille, Rev. Henry Hoheisel, arrived May 10, 1897, soon after a rectory was built. In 1904, an addition to the church was built. The church was incorporated on May 30, 1907, and was officially know as St. Columbkille. In previous years, it had also been known as St. Columba’s and St. Columbann’s.

In 1912, land was purchased for a new church, school, and rectory. In 1916, a new school was built named Sacred Heart Academy as Fr. Hoheisel had a devotion to the Sacred Heart. It was designed as a boarding school. The Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, Kansas, agreed to provide the teachers. The first boarder came from Fr. Flanagan who later founded Boys’ Town. He was a homeless boy by the name of Edward Clark who stayed from November 1916 until March 1918. Approximately one-half of the school enrollment of 62 was boarded there. A high school was added in 1918 and operated until 1931.

A new church with a seating capacity of 250 was built in 1923 for $40,000. The cornerstone was laid June 17, 1923, and the first mass was on December 23, 1923. The church was dedicated June 12, 1927. Fr. Hoheisel said his last Mass in December, 1939. In June, 1940, a new pastor, Fr. Clarence Trummer, was assigned to St. Columbkille.

The School still had boarders and the cost was raised to $1.00 per day per student in 1944. Many of the students came from South Omaha, Nebraska. The boarding was discontinued in 1946. Former Students remember the large vegetable garden located in back of the school that extended from 5th to 6th Street. They recall especially the huge potato patch, and all the cultivating, etc. that were done by hand.

In 1953, Fr. Robert Krajicek celebrated his first Mass at St. Columbkille. He was the first graduate of Sacred Heart Academy ordained to the priesthood. Fr. Krajicek lived in the parish and served in residences for many years.

In 1954, four stained glass windows representing the four Gospels were installed in the sanctuary. They are now located in shadow boxes in the present church.

Fr. Trummer had a stroke in August of 1955 and died January 2, 1956.

In June 1955, Fr. John Stears became pastor. Vatican II had arrived and changes were made in the Church. John and Done Schram built a new front alter for the church which was first used on Christmas Eve, 1964. In the early 1960’s, a convent was built for the Benedictine Sisters. However, the Order could not support adding a teacher to the faculty. The first lay teacher was hired in 1962 and the school enrollment was 177 students. In 1965, six classrooms and a gymnasium were added to the older facility. By 1966, enrollment was 275. A kindergarten class was added in 1976.

In 1970, Fr. Robert Steinhausen replaced Fr. Stears as Pastor. The first parish council was formed in 1971. The parish continued to grow rapidly and had 980 families by 1975. In 1978, the school was officially named St. Columbkille School. The first lay principal, Bob Voboril, was hired in 1980.

The first associate pastor, Fr. Melvin Beckman, arrived in 1971. Fr. Theodore Richling replaced him after two months. Fr Richling served until 1974, and was replaced by Fr. Gerald Leise. In 1977, Fr. Harold Buse became associate pastor serving St. Columbkille until 1981.

The parish continued to grow, as did the La Vista and Springfield, Nebraska areas. The number of masses increased to nine per weekend. In 1980, Archbishop Sheehan established St. Joseph Parish in Springfield and made it a mission of St. Columbkille. The Social Service in La Vista, Nebraska was added in 1973, a gift of Dr. James and Bette Hezel.

The parish staff grew as full-time people had to be hired to replace part-time volunteers. In 1975, Lynn Landgren retired after 16-years as choir director and was replaced by Karen Conoan. In 1977, a part-time secretary, Pauline Henkensiefken, was hired and in August 1981, Judy Lauber was hired as full-time secretary.

In 1977, the present church site was purchased from Jane Hogan for $150,000 which was a terrific bargain, even at that time. There were restrictive covenants to overcome in order to build a church on the property. Eight-some signatures were required; the last on came on the final day of the option to buy the land. (And she was a parishioner.)

In 1977, the pastor, his mother, and Fr. Buse moved to the new rectory. The old rectory was made into the Religious Education Center and Sr. Mary Schumacher was hired as the full-time R.E. Director, a position formerly held by volunteers.

In 1979, Fr. Steinhausen and the parish council appointed a building committee for a new church. The committee members were: Richard Scheer, chairman; Frank Bianco, vice-chairman; Bette Hezel, Mike Kinney, Dave Koenigsman, Eldon Lauber, Tom Satchell, Al Schmid, and Bernard Schram. In May 1979, the architectural firm of Bahr, Vermeer & Haecker was hired to design the new church. Low bidder for the new church was the Petersen Brothers Construction Company of Omaha, Nebraska. That bid was $1,419,000. Groundbreaking was held on November 9, 1980. The rectory was moved to its present site and construction began on the new church.

In June 1981, Fr. Pat Henry became the new associate pastor.

In July of 1981, and Art & Environment Committee of 20 people of diverse ages and philosophy was formed to commission the art and environment of the church. Decisions were made by consensus; the idea behind this format was that if these 20 could agree, the probability of the parish at-large accepting these important decisions was greatly enhanced.

The first major decision made was the departure from a corpus, to the Risen Christ. This came from the theme, suggested by the Pastor, Fr. Robert Steinhausen, Out of Darkness Light. Rudy Torrini, a noted artist from St. Louis was commissioned to do the sculpture at a fee of $10,000.

The laying of the cornerstone was March 26, 1982. The first prayer service of any kind was held for the construction workers of the new church was also on March 26, 1982. The first mass was held on March 27, 1982. The church was dedicated on April 17, 1982, Archbishop Sheehan presiding, with more than 1,000 in attendance.

Seating capacity for the church is 750 in the pews. With seating in the Alcoves, Chapel, Cry Room, and chairs, the church will seat approximately 1,000.

Local artists were used for the art and environment of the church. They were Dave Fitzpatrick, Omaha, who did all the handcrafted wood, Tabernacle, Book Repository, altars, chairs, ambos, and credence tables. Steve Polchert, Ralston, Nebraska, crafted the pottery, communion vessels, candle holders, lamps, and the pottery on the Tabernacle and Book Repository. Jonathan Hotchka, S.J. from Creighton University, sculpted the corpuses on the processional cross and in the reconciliation rooms. Beth Irwin, a parishioner, crafted the terra cotta medallions on the baptismal font. John Henry, from Ohio, a brother of associate pastor Pat Henry, designed the processional cross. Dave Fitzpatrick and Steve Polchert handcrafted it.

Dedication of the sculpture, “The Resurrection” by artist Rudy Torrini of St. Louis, was on April 17, 1983. All of the artwork in the church is original and one of a kind, except for the four Gospel windows and the Stations of the Cross which were brought over from the former church.

The church won many architectural awards in 1983 for design and use of masonry. The communion vessels and church furniture were featured in the North American Bishop’s Guidelines for Art & Environment in Catholic Worship. The communion vessels have been used in several Archdiocesan celebrations, including Loved and Sent in the 1980’s and the installment of Archbishop Elden Francis Curtis in 1993.

In 1983, Fr. Lloyd Gnirk became a priest in residence. Fr. Pat Henry left in 1984 and was followed by Rev. John Fiala. He was replaced by Fr. Paul Zaccone in 1987. In 1988, Fr. Augustine Mulanjanany also served as an associate pastor. In May 1987, the last Benedictine Nun, Sister Delores Dolezal left St. Columbkille School. In July 1988, Marge Koenigsman replaced Sr. Schumacher as Director of Religious Education. In 1990, Fr. Keith Rezac as assigned as associate pastor. Also coming to serve as associate was Fr. Jim Bartak.

A major addition to the school was added in 1990. Susan Ronk replaced Bob Voboril as principal. In 1992, Dorothy Cubrich became principal.

On February 7, 1993, Fr. Steinhausen died suddenly, and in June 1993, Fr. Steven J. Stillmunks became the fifth pastor of St. Columbkille with Fr. James Bartak assigned as his associate.

In November of 1994, a blessing of the Sacred Heart statue and the new front doors of the church was held. In 1995, the Steinhausen Center was built. Also in 1995, another addition to the school, along with new offices for the school and religious education was built as enrollment continued to grow. At that time Christine Overkamp became principal. In May 1995, the Mary Mother of Christ statue was blessed and in June 1995, a blessing of the votive candle stands was held. The statue of Mary and the Sacred Heart Statue were also sculptured by Rudi Torrini of St. Louis.

In 1995, Fr. Joseph Weiss, S.J., was assigned as an associate at St. Columbkille. Fr. Mark Tomasiewicz was assigned in 1996. He was replaced in 1996 by Fr. Leo Rigatuso. In 1996, there was a major addition to the school and religious education facilities named, The St. Columbkille Education Center, which was dedicated in January 1998. In 1999, Fr. Charles Jurgensmeier, S.J., replaced Fr. Weiss an associate at St. Columbkille. Also in 1999, Margie Altman replaced Marge Koenigsman as Director of Religious Education. On June 2001, Fr. Francis Nigli was assigned associate pastor. In 2001 Judy Thome replaced Margie Altman as Director of Religious Education.

A preschool named Sacred Heart was approved for the 2002-2003 school year with Julie Crnkovich as director. It has a full enrollment of 60 students.

In 2001, work was begun on design of a new bell tower. The old bell, a gift of the Schram families to the previous church, has been refurbished and will be re-dedicated on June 5, 2002. Construction has been approved and groundbreaking will also be on June 5, 2002.

As of May 24, 2002, there were 2,817 families registered in the parish which is 9,159 people.

Enrollment for the school in 2001-2002 was 521 and current enrollment for 2002-2003 is 529, the capacity of 600 will be reached by fall. Enrollment in the Religious Education Program in 2002-02 was 727 students serving 450 families.

The parish has been blessed by men answering the call to the Permanent Diaconate. Currently 9 Deacons serve the parish, Steve Jordon, Roland Kaiser, Eldon Lauber, Frank Mascarello, Joe Morley, Jerry Overkamp, Paul Powers, Bob Stier and Duane Thome.

Along with the Pastor, Fr. Steven J. Stillmunks, and his Associates, Fr. Francis Nigli and Fr, Charles L. Jurgensmeier, S.J., a strong support staff serves the parish: Judy Lauber, Office Manager, Karen Conoan, Liturgy and Music, Jan Bode, Finance Director, Deacon Eldon Lauber, Pastoral Associate, Bruce Tangeman, Business & Operations Manger and Athletic Director, Katherine Foord, Youth Formation Director. Christine Overkamp, School Principal, Judy Thome, Director of Religious Formation, and Julie Crnkovich, Pre-school Director.

The parish is blest by the many men and women who serve on the Parish Council, Finance Committee, School Board, Home and School, Knights of Columbus, Booster Club, Fish Fry Committee and the many other organizations and ministries of the parish, as well as the teachers, catechist's, secretaries, musicians and all the many other wonderful people who so give of themselves to make St. Columbkille a very special place.

God has indeed richly blessed St. Columbkille parish in the past 125 years. It is indeed amazing that we have only had five pastors in our 25-year history. This shows the wonderful bonds between them and the people. We are especially thankful to our Pastor Fr. Steven Stillmunks celebrating his 25 years of priesthood for his leadership and pastoral care the past 9 years. Under his guidance the Parish has improved its ministry to its people, and has continued its growth to become one of the largest parishes in the state of Nebraska.

We thankfully remember those early pioneers, priests, nuns and all those who have gone before us marked with sign of faith, for the vision, sacrifices and traditions they have passed down to us. We are also grateful to the priests, deacons, nuns and members who have moved on for the gift of themselves while they were among us. May God bless them and their endeavors.

Our prayers and hopes are that the parish will always continue to meet the challenges that come before it, and that it may thrive and continue to serve our loving God and his people in the Papillion and La Vista communities for many more years to come.

There are so many more stories, facts and people to thank that have been omitted because of brevity and time restraints, which I deeply regret. Please forgive any inaccuracies or errors on my part. May God continue to bless St. Columbkille Parish!
 

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