Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha is a particular church of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in the midwestern region of the United States. Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss
served as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese until Archbishop George Joseph Lucas, formerly the head of the Springfield, Illinois diocese, was installed on July 22, 2009. The Archdiocese serves more than 230,000 Catholics in 23 northeast Nebraska counties in approximately 140 parishes and missions.

On January 6, 1857 Pope Pius IX established the Vicariate Apostolic of Nebraska from the Vicariate Apostolic of Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains. The Rev. James Myles O'Gorman, O.C.S.O. from New Melleray Monastery near Dubuque, Iowa was named the Apostolic Vicar on January 28, 1859. It lost territory when the Vicariate Apostolic of Montana was created in 1883. The vicariate was elevated to a diocese and renamed the Diocese of Omaha by Pope Leo XIII on October 2, 1885 with the Reverend James O'Connor appointed as its first bishop. At the time, the diocese included all of Nebraska and Wyoming. It lost territory on August 2, 1887 when the dioceses of Cheyenne and Lincoln were established. The diocese lost territory two more times to the Diocese of Kearney; in 1912 when it was created and again in 1916. It was elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Pius XII on August 10, 1945.

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