A Sacred Heart Parish in Midtown Omaha
St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church sits on the north side of Dodge Street near 61st, a stretch of midtown Omaha that has grown up around the parish for more than a century. Founded in 1919, the community now numbers roughly 4,500 households and more than 1,500 families, with average Sunday attendance near 2,500. Its mission statement is brief and is repeated across bulletin covers, banners, and bulletins of record: "St. Margaret Mary is a Catholic Community rooted in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ignited through the Word, Sacrament and Service." The vision widens that idea, calling the parish to be "a Catholic Community blessed by God, inspired to be alive in the Risen Christ, reflecting His heart and love to the world by living the Word through dynamic Worship and life-changing service to advance the kingdom." The Sacred Heart, the devotion of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque herself, is the thread that ties the parish's name, its worship, and its outreach together.
From a Dance Hall to an Indiana Limestone Church
The parish was born in a former dance hall. During the summer of 1919, Reverend Leo Patrick was commissioned by the Archbishop to found a parish in the Dundee area, a former village that had just been annexed by the city of Omaha. Father Patrick chose a public dance hall at 50th and Underwood for the first Mass, celebrated on Sunday, September 7, 1919. Within a year he had purchased a house and lot at 5002 California Street, where the downstairs served as a chapel and he lived upstairs. Two Sisters of Mercy began teaching the first four grades in that house in September 1921, and the following year ground was broken next door for a combination church and school that opened with seventy-five to eighty children.
In June 1923, Father Joseph Suneg was appointed to St. Margaret Mary. As the congregation grew, he saw six and a half acres at 61st and Dodge as the future home of the parish, and over several decades he turned that vision into stone. The current church, designed and built under his direction, was completed in 1942, and the present school building on 62nd and Dodge followed in 1951, the year before he retired. The church is constructed of Indiana limestone and oak, seats 850, and anchors a campus of about twelve acres. The Suneg Center, the parish hall on the lower level, still carries his name.
A two-and-a-half-year renovation in 1996 added an elevator, two computer labs, a library, a music room, a science lab, and accessibility features. A geothermal heating and cooling system and thermal-paned windows followed in 2007. In 2018, the school offices were reworked to give the Assistant Principal a dedicated space, and the hand-carved woodwork from the original front lobby was saved and remounted on the new walls, preserving the building's handcraft for another generation. The U.S. Department of Education recognized the school as a Blue Ribbon School in 2008, and in 2022 the school earned Cognia (formerly AdvancED) accreditation.
The Sunday and Weekday Rhythm of Mass
Parish life at St. Margaret Mary centers on the Eucharist. The weekend schedule opens with the Saturday Vigil at 5:00 PM and continues on Sunday morning at 7:30 AM and 10:00 AM, with a final Sunday evening Mass at 5:30 PM. Weekday Mass is offered Monday through Friday at 6:30 AM and on Saturday morning at 8:15 AM, drawing a steady crowd of regulars who begin the day in prayer before heading to work and school.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available every day. Monday through Friday, priests hear confessions from 7:00 to 7:30 AM, immediately following the morning Mass. On Saturday, there are two windows: 7:30 to 8:05 AM in the morning and 3:30 to 4:30 PM in the afternoon, before the Vigil Mass. A private appointment can be arranged through the parish office for anyone who needs a different time.
Anyone who struggles to hear in a large sanctuary will find a quiet accommodation waiting for them. A few years ago, the church was fitted with a new sound system that includes an induction hearing loop under the first ten rows of the center section. Visitors with a T-coil-equipped hearing aid or cochlear implant can switch on the T-switch and pick up the audio directly, a small but real piece of hospitality built into the building itself.
The Seven Sacraments and the Funeral Luncheon
Beyond Sunday Mass, the parish walks members through every sacrament the Catholic Church offers. Baptisms are scheduled twice a month, on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM and on Sunday at 11:00 AM, and a required preparation class meets on the third Wednesday of each month from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the Drummy Conference Room on the lower level. Parents must be registered members of the parish, and godparents are required to be confirmed Catholics at least sixteen years old who practice the faith. First Reconciliation and First Eucharist are prepared for in the second-grade religious education program, and Confirmation preparation is centered in the seventh and eighth grades, where students pair classroom study with service projects rooted in the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.
Couples who wish to marry at St. Margaret Mary are asked to be registered, active members of the parish - or a child of one, or an alumna or alumnus of the school - for at least six months before a wedding date can even be scheduled, in line with the six-month marriage preparation period required by the Archdiocese of Omaha. All weddings are celebrated by one of the parish priests, and a brother, uncle, or close friend who is a priest is welcome to concelebrate. The parish publishes its own Wedding Planning Guide and Marriage Preparation Brochure to walk couples through the steps.
The Anointing of the Sick is available on request, and the priests are always willing to bring it to a home, hospital, or care center. When a member dies, the parish supports the family in three ways: a planning meeting with the priest and pastoral minister, the funeral Mass itself with music led by parish musicians and cantors, and a funeral luncheon. The Funeral Luncheon Committee hosts a meal in the Suneg Center for groups of one hundred to one hundred twenty, with the Raynor Center opened for larger gatherings. Volunteers set up, serve, and clean up, and the parish keeps a community collection of beloved recipes so the food tastes like coming home.
Becoming Catholic and Growing in Faith at Every Age
Anyone exploring the Catholic faith is welcome to join OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, which the parish runs on Monday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 PM during the academic year. The team meets each week with inquirers, sponsors them through the process, and grounds the conversation in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The name of the program itself signals the recent shift in terminology, from RCIA to OCIA, and the parish team is happy to walk alongside anyone who is simply curious, whether or not they expect to be received into the Church.
For the youngest parishioners, Early Childhood faith formation includes Children's Liturgy of the Word, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, and Vacation Bible School. Children in first through eighth grade gather on Wednesday evenings for Religious Education, and high school teens are invited into SMM Youth Ministry, a relational program built around small groups, games, and service. The Young Adult community, for those in their twenties and thirties, gathers around three commitments: nurturing a spiritual life rooted in Jesus Christ, embracing the troubles and challenges of the wider world, and enjoying life in genuine community. Many of these young adults also stay connected to the Archdiocese-wide programs like Arch O Young Adults, Veni, and the St. John Paul II Newman Center on the Creighton University campus.
For adults, the parish offers ongoing Bible studies, an Alpha pilot, Grief Groups, the Watch & Discern series based on The Chosen during Lent, and the parish's signature devotion, the Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which the parish prays together every day in the days leading up to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. The parish even publishes a Catholic Quiz in the bulletin to keep lifelong learning in front of the whole community.
St. Margaret Mary School: A K-8 with International Baccalaureate Ambitions
Across Dodge Street, the school carries the parish's name into the next generation. St. Margaret Mary School educates around five hundred students in kindergarten through eighth grade at 123 N. 61st Street, and is recognized as a Blue Ribbon School and a Cognia-accredited institution. The school is a Candidate School for the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme in grades K-5 and the Middle Years Programme in grades 6-8, pursuing full authorization as an IB World School.
The mission of the school is four words long: faith, conscience, scholarship, and service. Faith formation is woven through the school day, with weekly Masses for students and a structured sacramental program that prepares second graders for First Reconciliation and First Communion and seventh and eighth graders for Confirmation. The Resource Department supports learners through two certified interventionists, an OPS-contracted special educator, an OPS-contracted speech and language pathologist, a Catholic Charities-based counselor, and a Title I educator, all coordinated through a Multi-Tier System of Support model.
Beyond the classroom, the school runs an Extended Care program from 3:00 to 6:00 PM every school day, parish athletics, scouting troops, and student clubs. The Home & School organization and an active School Board, currently led by President Nick Lesiak, keep parents, teachers, and pastors in regular conversation about the life of the school.
Outreach that Touches Omaha and Beyond
Care and Outreach at St. Margaret Mary is organized through the Parish Care, Outreach, and Mission Committee, or PCOM, and runs through more than a dozen active ministries. The longest-running of them is the St. Vincent de Paul conference, in operation at the parish since the 1930s, which helps families in crisis with groceries, clothing, and utility bills. The Knights of Columbus, with more than 130 members and about twenty activities a year, is the parish's largest fraternal service organization.
Each month, parishioners drive to the Stephen Center in South Omaha to serve lunch on the third Saturday and to play games with guests on a quarterly Game Night, opening a small door of ordinary friendship to people rebuilding their lives. The parish sponsors refugee families arriving in Nebraska through Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, furnishing apartments, providing culturally appropriate food, and walking alongside each family as mentors during their first years in Omaha.
The Respect Life Ministry takes the parish into the public square through the annual Life Chain, the 40 Days for Life campaign each fall and spring, and the National Night of Prayer for Life, while Hearts Restored Nebraska, a post-abortion healing ministry, offers confidential accompaniment, individual counseling, and retreats. Walking with Moms in Need connects expecting mothers to a resource guide of local services. Courage/EnCourage provides spiritual support for people who experience same-sex attraction and their families, in a pastoral program run by the Archdiocese of Omaha's Center for Family Life Formation.
Each Christmas, the Family to Family Christmas Project partners with Catholic Charities and All Saints Catholic School to provide wrapped gifts, gift cards, and Operation Others food boxes to hundreds of children, families, and seniors. Every February, the parish holds a Love Thy Neighbor Service Weekend, where parishioners assemble care kits for distribution to people experiencing housing insecurity, with surplus items passed along to the Stephen Center.
Across the Atlantic, the Fr. Mukasa Uganda Education Fund, established in 2002, currently supports seventy-eight students through Catholic primary, secondary, and college or trade school education, all managed locally in Omaha and in Kampala by a five-member board on each side. The fund began with six children in a conversation between the late Fr. Mel Merwald and a young Ugandan priest, Fr. Michael Mukasa, when the cost to educate one child was eight hundred dollars a year. That figure has since risen to nine hundred dollars, and the program now includes a mentoring component that pairs each student with an SMM parishioner through letter writing.
The Sister Parish Bond with St. Cecilia Cathedral
In 2022, Archbishop George Lucas called on every parish in the Archdiocese of Omaha to enter a new "Journey of Faith," grouping parishes into Families of Parishes to better carry out the mission of the local Church. St. Margaret Mary and St. Cecilia Cathedral were paired as sister parishes, and the two pastoral councils have met regularly ever since. Together they jointly hired an Evangelization Coordinator and a Youth Director to reach deeper into adult faith formation and high school ministry, and they have collaborated on shared Lenten programming, including a Grief Group and a weekly viewing of The Chosen.
The arrangement also produced a coordinated Mass and Confession schedule that took effect on July 1, 2023. At St. Margaret Mary, the plan preserved the popular 6:30 AM weekday Mass and adjusted the Saturday morning Mass and the Sunday schedule so that the two parishes offer a range of times that do not duplicate one another. Each parish continues to have its own pastor, and the two will share an Associate Pastor as the number of priests in the Archdiocese continues to decline.
Strategic Planning, the Capital Campaign, and the Road Ahead
In 2020 and 2021, the parish undertook a yearlong comprehensive planning process that asked every parishioner, in person and online, what they hoped the next decade would look like. Six teams - Worship and Sacraments, Community Life, Faith Formation and Education, Parish Care and Outreach, Stewardship and Administration, and Building, Grounds, and Infrastructure - distilled 130 ideas into 60 SMART goals. On November 18, 2021, six baton capsules representing the goals were passed from the planning teams to the standing committees in a Pass the Torch celebration.
Working with architects from Leo A Daly, the parish then developed a Master Plan that became the basis for a feasibility study in 2024. The fruit of that work is a Capital Campaign, "Cherishing Our History, Strengthening Our Future," chaired by Regina and Jim Boulay, Dede and Tom Crowley, Shannon and Adam Herink, Brook Hudson, Miki and Paul Kramper, Mary and Jay Palu, Cindy and Jim Irvine, Julie and Steve Kenney, Karen and Dan Ryan, and Ann and Kurt Tjaden, with honorary chairs Krista and Mickey Anderson, Brady and Ryan Gibson, Susanne Shore and Senator Pete Ricketts, and Sue and Steve Seline. By late 2025, the campaign had crossed the halfway mark of its $30 million goal. Recent completed projects include a new boiler serving the West Campus and a planned $2 million renovation of the school bathrooms, art room, music room, and kitchen, with a proposed new Parish Center and courtyard on the drawing board.
At the parish level, the same six committees continue to advance the SMART goals. The Faith Formation and Education Committee, chaired by Sue Seline, has brought back Vacation Bible School, launched a Little Kids Ministry around the Our Lady of Peace Children's Library, and piloted an Alpha program for adults. The Community Life Committee, led by Arnie and Emily Ovalles, plans parish-wide socials and gathering moments. The Parish Care, Outreach, and Mission Committee, now chaired by Charlie Petro, is mapping every outreach ministry and helping them collaborate. The Stewardship and Administration Committee, chaired this year by Ann and Kurt Tjaden, is building a culture of stewardship that goes beyond the collection basket. The Building, Grounds, and Infrastructure Committee, led by Tom Crowley, has overseen the detailed campus inspection that became the foundation of the Master Plan. And the Worship and Sacraments Committee, chaired by Deacon Mike Conzett, has launched a permanent Liturgy Committee to keep the parish's worship life vibrant.
Supper Club, Scouts, Senior Saints, and the Life of the Parish
Alongside its major ministries, the parish runs a wide range of small communities that make a large parish feel personal. The Supper Club gathers groups of about ten adult parishioners, single, married, divorced, or widowed, for a potluck dinner in someone's home on a chosen Saturday night roughly every month. Running Toward Christ meets every other Tuesday at 5:45 AM for a two-mile outdoor run, followed by coffee, scripture, and reflection in the Suneg Center, with basketball in the Raynor Center when the weather is bad. The Men's Club, open to all the men of the parish, is the go-to group for service projects and fellowship. The Women's Guild plans social and service events for the women of the parish. The Welcome Committee greets new parishioners with a personal visit and a welcome packet.
For children and youth, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops meet monthly at various grade levels, and the parish runs Vacation Bible School each summer. Senior Saints, a luncheon and social group for retired parishioners, gathers for a meal and a speaker or entertainment seven times a year on Tuesdays or Thursdays from noon to 1:00 PM. The Prayer Shawl Ministry welcomes knitters and crocheters of all skill levels on the first Wednesday morning and first Thursday evening of each month, providing yarn, needles, and basic instruction. The Legion of Mary, the Star of the Sea Praesidium, meets every Tuesday morning from 9:15 to 10:15 AM for prayer, study, and weekly service assignments, while the parish's Homebound Communion Ministry sends trained Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion into the homes of those who cannot easily come to Mass.
The Annual Rhythm: Festival, Founders' Day, and the Year of Giving
Three signature events shape the parish's year. The Parish Festival Weekend in late September is the largest celebration on the calendar. The Friday night Gather celebration begins at 7:00 PM in the church with Eucharistic Adoration, Exposition, and Benediction, followed by refreshments in the Narthex. Saturday night is the 21-and-over Social with live music, food trucks, and the Dundee Dell Beer Garden. Sunday closes the weekend with an outdoor festival from 3:00 to 7:00 PM under a big tent, complete with Finest Hour on stage, a bunny petting zoo, pumpkin painting, BINGO, and the drawing of a $10,000 raffle at 6:30 PM.
Founders' Day, held each February, is the parish's annual gala and largest fundraiser, an evening of food, fellowship, and reflection on the year past, and the largest single support for both parish and school operations. The annual Bridge the Gap campaign, which runs from July through June, raises the difference between school tuition and the actual cost of education, an amount the parish calculates at $2,798 per student each year. The Nebraska Catholic Day of Giving, held each spring with Advanced Giving Days the two weeks before, brings the parish into a single day of giving across the Archdiocese.
Stewardship, Online Giving, and the Endowment
Sunday giving, online giving through WeShare, the annual Bridge the Gap campaign, Founders' Day, stock donations, employer matching gifts, and planned giving through wills, trusts, and charitable gift annuities together sustain the parish and school year-round. The 2016 Honoring Our Past, Investing in Our Future capital campaign created an Endowment Fund that supports capital enhancements, parish pastoral ministry, and compensation, and the parish welcomes continued contributions through major gifts, trusts, and estates. The Memorial and Honorarium gifts, the Perpetual Memorial Fund, the Educational Endowment Trust, and the internally restricted Funds A, B, and C give parishioners a range of ways to direct their support, while the Centennial Vision Fund supports the purchase and reuse of the Chancery Building.
Parish Staff, Clergy, and the People Who Make It Run
Father Jim Keiter serves as pastor, supported by associate pastors Father Andy Phan and Father Georges Sokpo, with a team of deacons including Deacon Mike Conzett, chair of the Worship and Sacraments Committee, and Deacon Caleb Kosch. Pastoral Minister Chris Kingsley coordinates the parish's care and outreach work, while Adam Ybarra serves as Director of Religious Formation and Mission and Job Smoot as Assistant Director of Communications and Religious Formation. Peg Lacy directs the Music Ministry, Lisa Manning leads Communications, and Jim Varner is the Business Manager. At the school, Principal Ryan Wieczorek and Assistant Principal Mary Simerly lead a faculty that includes dedicated classroom teachers from kindergarten through eighth grade, a technology teacher, a librarian, an art teacher, a physical education teacher, and a music teacher.
Parish life also leans heavily on its lay leadership. The Parish Pastoral Council is currently presided over by Jeff Feldhaus, the School Board by Bobby Grennan, the Women's Guild by Nicole Garden, the Knights of Columbus by Ray Gering, the Legion of Mary by Elizabeth Pokorny, the Bereavement Ministry by Anne Raynor, the St. Vincent de Paul conference by Dave Beat, the Family to Family Christmas Project by Megann Sauer, and the Stephen Center Ministry by Jeff Hausman. Eucharistic Adoration is coordinated by Daphne Patil, the Homebound Communion Ministry by Nancy Casey, and the parish's wider outreach and formation work is shaped by the six SMART goal committee chairs named above. The capital campaign, school, and parish are bound together in a single, living community that, more than a century after that first Mass in a Dundee dance hall, still gathers to be sent out again from the same neighborhood in the name of the Sacred Heart.