Bishop-elect O’Donnell’s Omaha parishioners predict great things for him
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“Jefferson City, you’re getting a good man.”
Deacon Michael Conzett seemed to speak for all of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Omaha, Nebraska, where Bishop-elect Ralph B. O’Donnell served for the past six years as pastor.
“He’s been a shepherd to all of us,” said Tricia Olson, St. Margaret Mary Parish’s director of stewardship and development. “We’re going to miss him, but we are very joyful for him.”
“He’s an incredible man,” said Nick Lesiak, president of the St. Margaret Mary Parish Pastoral Council. “He’s faith-filled and cares very deeply about this community, and the Diocese of Jefferson City is very lucky.”
“You’re gonna be so blessed,” said St. Margaret Mary parishioner Amy Roland. “He’s such a great shepherd: his words — the way he can speak and move people with his words, is incredible.
“And he genuinely loves the Lord and he takes his role as shepherd so seriously,” Mrs. Roland stated. “He truly loves all of us and really wants all of us to go to heaven. He views his role as taking care of our souls and shepherding our souls to heaven.”
“Father Ralph is a dream,” said lifelong St. Margaret Mary parishioner Lindsay Tettenborn. “He is everything you could pray for. He is kind, he listens, he genuinely cares, and he makes the right decision for everybody.”
Some of those decisions are extremely difficult, “but he is extremely trusting,” she said.
“Kids love him”
St. Margaret Mary parishioner Ann Tjaden said Bishop-elect O’Donnell has been “a wonderful leader, shepherd, friend.”
“We’re sad to see him go, but everybody is so happy that Jefferson City is getting such an awesome shepherd,” said Mrs. Tjaden. “He will do wonderful things there.”
One thing Mr. Lesiak said he’ll miss is how well the bishop-elect interacts with children.
“He walks into a room and they just flock to him,” said Mr. Lesiak. “He is so kind to them and always has their best interest at heart.”
Courtney Tracy has several young children at St. Margaret Mary School.
“Father O’Donnell is so engaging with them,” she said.
Her children previously never enjoyed Mass very much.
“But since they started going to all-school Mass here, they really feel like part of the community,” she said. “Father does such a great job.”
Jen Miller, who also has children at the school, agreed.
“He’s very personable, a very nice guy, connects with the families, makes sure he’s at everything, right here and now,” she said. “Shaking hands, talking — the kids love him.”
Mrs. Miller has worked with Bishop-elect O’Donnell as a parishioner and school mom.
“He comes at everything with a really positive attitude and a really good spirit,” she said.
Mrs. Tettenborn recalled how Bishop-elect O’Donnell was assigned to the parish a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
“It was definitely a tricky time,” she said. “But he definitely dove right into being our pastor.”
Mrs. Tjaden spoke of how Bishop-elect O’Donnell established six core committees in the parish to help plan for the future and carry out the Church’s mission.
“It was about four years in the making,” she said. “Whoever takes over for him here has a wonderful foundation to continue building on.”
Committed to education
“Our loss is a gain for Jefferson City,” said Ryan Wieczorek, principal of St. Margaret Mary School.
He said Bishop-elect O’Donnell takes a keen interest in Catholic education.
“Especially the faith component, forming people in the faith and getting teachers what they need, the leadership what they need to be successful in their schools,” Mr. Wieczorek stated.
“He’s involved. There’s no separation in terms of things happening in the parish and things happening at the school,” he said. “I appreciate that openness.”
Mr. Wieczorek applied to be the principal after having gotten to know Bishop-elect O’Donnell in Christmases past: “way back when, when he would come back from Washington, D.C., to offer the Christmas Eve Mass at Holy Cross.”
“And I was thinking, he’d be very great for us here at SMM,” he said. “Because we were parishioners here at that time for four or five years before we ended up moving.”
Mr. Wieczorek was disappointed not to be there to experience having Bishop-elect O’Donnell as his pastor.
“But I was energized to take the job here because he was here and has done a lot of great things in a short amount of time,” the principal stated.
He described the bishop-elect as “energetic, very approachable and very charismatic.”
“I think he’s good at meeting people where they’re at and giving them what they need to be successful,” he said.
Katie Lessman and her husband are not Catholic but have four children in kindergarten through eighth grade at St. Margaret Mary School.
“We heard about how great Fr. O’Donnell is, and we found that to be absolutely true,” said Mrs. Lessman.
“He has always been welcoming and warm to our family and we’ve never seen anything but love and kindness exuded from him,” she said.
“He talks about God,” said her son, Caleb, age 5. “He’s nice. He teaches things that God does to help us be kind.”
“I like his homilies,” said daughter Genevieve, age 9.
“On the same team”
Deacon Conzett said Bishop-elect O’Donnell is a man of prayer and has a profound respect for the Church, the Liturgy and the Sacraments.
“That matters because the Liturgy is the highest form of prayer in the Catholic Church,” the deacon stated.
He said Bishop-elect O’Donnell respects all the ordained ministries: the episcopate, the presbyterate and the diaconate.
“He sees that we all have a role to play in the life of the Church,” said Deacon Conzett. “He respects every single office as being important, with its distinctions, it’s differences within the commonality. We’re all brothers in the same order, with different roles.”
Father Zach Eischeid came to St. Margaret Mary as associate pastor after his ordination last year.
He said Bishop-elect O’Donnell is an adept problem-solver and is great at bringing people together and “just showing the joy of our faith.”
“He’s been a great role model,” said Fr. Eischeid. “He’s so personable. He has a personality that people are attracted to. He just flocks to everybody, and everybody comes to him.”
The bishop-elect is fond of saying, ‘We’re all on the same team.”
“So, even when disagreements come up in the parish, he insists that ‘we’re not one versus the other. Let’s everybody come together,’” Fr. Eischeid noted.
The bishop-elect subscribes to Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen’s dictum that “a priest is not his own.”
“The whole point of us, especially as he’s been discerning becoming a bishop, is, ‘We’re here, like Peter, to die,’” said Fr. Eischeid. “A priest loses his life for the flock.”
Whenever Bishop-elect O’Donnell has needed to offer direction or fraternal correction to his young associate, it’s always been with kindness and understanding.
“Basically, he’d ask for the other side of the story, so that we’re both on the same page,” said Fr. Eischeid. “It would be very kind, very charitable, but he’d make sure something negative wouldn’t build up over time.”
“It just felt right”
St. Margaret Mary parishioners Tom and DeDe Crowley have been involved in the parish’s stewardship and development and buildings and grounds committees.
“He’s done a really good job of bringing revitalization and some more community to the parish,” said Mr. Crowley. “Bringing people back to church. Helping infuse a lot of spirit into the community.”
Archbishop-elect O’Donnell arrived at St. Margaret Mary shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So, he had a lot of challenges,” said Mr. Crowley. “But out of those dark days, this parish has really taken off.”
People are being drawn to the fold.
“The kindness of the Lord comes through with Bishop-elect O’Donnell,” said parishioner Shannon Bolin.
She and her husband were initiated into the Church at St. Margaret Mary at Easter of 2021.
“The kindness that he extended in that process was so loving and warm and inviting,” said Mrs. Bolin. “He took his role as shepherd of this parish very seriously.”
That leadership, although decisive, was never intimidating or heavy-handed.
“It just felt right,” Mrs. Bolin stated. “His kindness and mercy really stood out to me, and his belief in what the Lord is doing in you and in the parish.”
Mrs. Roland and Mrs. Bolin are both convinced the Holy Spirit will help their archbishop select a priest to carry on the work at the parish.
“The Holy Spirit is strong here, and Father planted seeds, and those seeds are gonna sprout and grow and blossom, and we’re gonna keep going,” said Mrs. Roland.
Help and intercession
Deacon Conzett noted that in order for a bishop to be successful, his people must embrace his strengths and help him in his weaknesses.
“Assist him where he needs help,” the deacon recommended. “Support him constructively. Be honest and do so with compassion.”
Mrs. Tettenborn suggested candid communication.
“I think when there are opportunities for posing solutions to being a part of the solution, those are key,” she said.
Tricia Olson urges the faithful here to cooperate with their new bishop.
“Just know that you’re a disciple in mission, and let him lead,” she said.
Mr. Lesiak suggested praying for the bishop-elect’s safety, “so he can keep doing the Lord’s work.”
“The world is a better place with him in it, and every place that he is improves as a result,” he said.
Mrs. Tettenborn said she’s praying for his new flock to welcome him eagerly, “because they are beyond blessed to have such an amazing individual amongst them.”
Fr. Eischeid suggested following Bishop-elect O’Donnell’s example of regularly turning to prayer.
“I mean, the Lord isn’t going to tell us to go in different directions,” the priest stated. “He’ll always lead us in the same way.”
“And so, pray for him, and also cultivate that prayer life within each person in the diocese,” he said. “Let’s just go to Jesus and Jesus is going to figure it all out.”
Deacon Conzett suggested sending up “prayers of support, prayers of joy, prayers of struggle, our own struggles that we as a Church have in our own lives.”
“We ask the Lord to help Bishop-elect O’Donnell in the struggles that he has in his life,” the deacon said. “Because we’re all in this together. We’re all members of the Mystical Body of Christ together, yet we’re all sinful people. And we all need to help each other out.”
