Saint Frances Cabrini sits in historic south Omaha. A building across the street may be up for sale and the church hopes to buy it, to bring new life to the parish.
Video: Big plans coming for Omaha’s oldest parish
“This is the oldest parish in Omaha, so our records date back from 1857,” Father Damian Zuerlein said.
The church is under new leadership.
“I’m new here,” Zuerlein said. “I’ve only been here six weeks.”
Zuerlein came from Saint Columbkille parish in Papillion, where he headed up a staff of several dozen. Zuerlein’s staff is now just one person.
After six weeks at his new church, Zuerlein has big plans for the historic parish: to grow it along with the neighborhood.
“The parish has a long history with the Christ Child building, a lot of the members here either swam there or played sports there or learned religion there. So they feel a real closeness to that building,” Zuerlein said.
The Christ Child Center, owned by Catholic Charities, may soon be for sale. Catholic Charities moved its programming out of the space within the last few weeks.
“We are evaluating all of the options that we have for this building,” Catholic Charities spokesperson Cailan Franz said. “Wanting to make sure that it goes along with our mission of advocating and caring for the most vulnerable in Omaha and the 23 counties within the archdiocese.”
The building includes offices, classrooms, a gym and a pool.
“Right now, we do not have a large hall of any kind. So to take part of that building and redo it into a nice community center. Classrooms for adult formation, Bible study,” Zuerlein said.
The 10th Street corridor is seeing a rebirth of sorts. Zuerlein said he hopes to make the building into a place the entire community can use.
“I know there are several community organizations that have expressed interest in having an office in there or the possibilities or doing a clinic or using space,” he said.
Catholic Charities told KETV NewsWatch 7 while the building isn’t currently listed for sale, it’s one of the options they’re looking at.
Leadership from Catholic Charities has already spoken with Saint Frances Cabrini about their interest in buying the building.
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