History

In 1868, a group of Irish settlers in western Douglas County banded together to found a Catholic Church in Elkhorn, Nebraska.  Because of their heritage, they appropriately named the parish in honor of  St. Patrick.  For several decades, “itinerant priests,” Fr. Wallace from St. Patrick’s in Gretna, or Frs., served the community. James Bruke and Tom Walsh from St. Peter’s in Omaha.

The parish's first church stood high on a hill in the community of Elkhorn but was destroyed by fire in the same year of its construction. The early pioneers rebuilt the church one year later, only to have adversity strike again in 1872 with a tornado. Reconstruction occurred in 1873, but that building was consumed by fire again in 1899.

In 1900, St. Patrick’s Parish became a mission of St. Columbkille’s Parish in Papillion and was served by Fr. Henry Hoheisel.  Under his guidance, a new church was built at 311 Pacific Street, one block west of Highway 31.  Even though the building was sold years ago, it remained a reminder of the hardships endured by those early pioneers. In the Fall of 2024, the current owner of that former church offered the contents in the church to Fr. Tom Fangman. The stained-glass windows and spindles from the choir loft were removed and saved for the construction of the future church at 185th and West Maple Road.

Fr. John Brock arrived in 1931 and served the people of St. Patrick’s for 25 years. During his tenure, the parish grew, and church renovations took place. Fr. Brock celebrated his “Silver Jubilee” as a Catholic priest on May 21, 1946. The parish men honored Fr. Brock by naming the local Council of the Knights of Columbus in his name.

The year 1956 brought with it the appointment of Fr. Martin “Fr. Pat” Petrasic as St. Patrick’s pastor.  On his arrival, 81 families were registered, and rapid growth ensued.  A parish center, known now as “Boland Hall”, was constructed in 1966 at the intersection of  Hwy 31 and West Maple Road, the current parish location.   Parishioners converted a section of the building into their worship space in 1969, with a rectory added shortly thereafter.

The present worship space was built in 1981 and formally dedicated on March 7, 1982.  Fr. Nelson Newman then served as pastor of the community from 1984 through 1993.  During his time as pastor, a new Parish Center, located below the church, was completed, and plans were made to open an elementary school in the fall of 1993.

Fr. Robert Irwin arrived in June 1993, becoming pastor of St. Patrick’s for four years. On August 29, 1993, Archbishop Elden Curtiss dedicated a new parish grade school, but success was not to be. The school struggled for two short years and was forced to close its doors. Hard lessons were learned, but they served as guideposts when the parish re-opened its school on August 23, 2000, with 80 children.
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April 1997 marked Fr. Irwin's departure to Fargo, ND, and Rev. Paul Mahowald, SJ, was appointed interim pastor. In June 1997, Fr. Ron Wasikowski became pastor of our faith community. During his 13-year tenure, St. Patrick’s community experienced tremendous growth and underwent several renovation and expansion projects.  

August 23rd, 2000 – St. Patrick’s School opened with a three-year old program (19), a pre-kindergarten program (30), a kindergarten class (17), a first grade class (7) and a second (5)/third grade (2) combination classroom.  

December 3, 2000, saw the re-dedication of St. Patrick’s renovated “House of the Church.”  Our seating arrangement was reconfigured, expanding capacity to approximately 700.  The clerestory and better lighting were added, along with newly designed liturgical furnishings.  The result has tremendously impacted the quality of our liturgical prayer.

As the Elkhorn area continues to grow rapidly, a well-designed yet flexible Master Plan is helping to guide St. Patrick’s Parish-Family's needs.  Construction of the first phase for a new school/RF complex was completed in March 2002, providing nine classrooms, school and RF offices, administrative space, and a commons area.  The pre-school/kindergarten phase was completed in August of 2003.  The third phase, the Academic & Faith Formation addition, was dedicated on August 23, 2008.   

Early 2009 brought another addition to St. Patrick's. The ever-growing parishioner base warranted the addition of an associate pastor. Fr. Rodney Adams joined the staff. A couple of years later, the parishioners gifted Dolly (a miniature Yorkshire Terrier) to Fr. Rodney, and she became a regular in the halls of St. Patrick's.   

In June 2010, parishioners graciously bid farewell to Fr. Ron and warmly welcomed a new pastor, Fr. Gary Ostrander. Ordained in 1971, Fr. Gary brought a wealth of experience and wisdom. His spiritual leadership and homiletic prowess melded seamlessly into the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church dynamic.

Fr. Tom Fangman came to St. Patrick's to serve as pastor in July, 2016 from Sacred Heart Parish. He served there for 18 years as the pastor.  Fr. Gary remained a senior resident and helped Fr. Tom serve this growing parish's needs. Fr. Rodney Adams was assigned as pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Omaha, and Fr. John Norman became Associate Pastor at St. Pat's in 2016. Fr. John's time was short, and he moved in August 2017 to be pastor of St. Peter de Alcántara Parish in Ewing, St. John the Baptist Parish in Deloit Township, and St. Theresa of Avila Parish in Clearwater. Fr. Patrick Moser followed as Associate Pastor from 2018 to 2021, as he helped us move through the COVID years. In July 2021, he moved to St. Columbkille Parish in Papillion, and Fr. Padraic Stack joined the St. Patrick's Family, coming from St. Stephen the Martyr Parish in Omaha. Fr. Padraic served at St. Pat’s from 2021 – 2023. He then moved to our neighboring parish, St. Vincent de Paul. Most recently, Fr. An Duy “Andy” Phan moved here from the northeast Nebraska parishes he served. In 2023, Fr. Andy Sohm began assisting St. Pat's along with two other parishes as a Hospital and Care Facilities Chaplain. At the time of his arrival, there were 9 facilities and three hospitals in St. Patrick's boundaries. More continue to open in the western Douglas County area.

In 2018, Fr. Tom Fangman and parish leaders began laying the groundwork for building a larger church on 10 acres of land given to the parish by Frank and Jane Krejci on 185th and West Maple Streets. The need for a church that could better serve St. Patrick’s 80-square-mile boundary was a priority, as no other parishes were in the works in this area. A parish survey of what parishioners wanted in their faith community was done. The options are rebuilding on the 204th and West Maple campus versus starting from scratch on the donated land. Discussions lasted for months, and eventually, building on the land was decided.  After looking at several architectural firms, RDG was chosen. A capital campaign began, “One Church. One Future. Growing in Faith Together.” The groundbreaking of the new site took place on a very warm, sunny Sunday, June 4th, 2023 with Archbishop George Lucas blessing the start of what was expected to take two years. In January of 2025, Fr. Tom announced to the Parish that it had met the campaign's goal of $38 million and exceeded it. Over $42 million has been pledged to this project, with over 1,200 of our 3,000+ parish families participating. 

As our mission and history continue to unfold, we remain ever mindful to thank our Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, worship, and celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Video from the 150th Anniversary in 2018 of St. Patrick's Parish in Elkhorn, Nebraska.