Catholic dating in Nebraska
Catholic dating in Nebraska: Father Flanagan's tomb at Boys Town, VENI and Salt + Light for young adults, UNL's Newman Center, and parishes in the Sandhills.
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- Young adults
Short answer
On 23 March 2026, the Holy See published a decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Edward Joseph Flanagan, a priest born in Ireland in 1886 who, in December 1917, opened his first home for boys in Omaha. The home became Boys Town, and its founder is now Venerable.
His tomb is inside Dowd Memorial Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, at the centre of the village of Boys Town, about twenty minutes west of the Omaha cathedral. Boys Town says visitors can pay their respects there, and that Mass in the chapel is open to the public on weekdays and Sundays. Since September 2024 its bells have rung the Angelus again.
Fourteen places are listed below, each with an address and a link to its own page or its diocese's: the chapel at Boys Town, the Omaha cathedral where young adults gather once a month, Creighton's Jesuit church, a Latin Mass parish in South Omaha, parishes that pray in Spanish, Vietnamese and French, the student parishes of Lincoln and Kearney, and three churches of the Sandhills that share one parish office and two time zones. They are not every parish; they are the places whose pages we could read.
cana.love, the site behind this page, is free and meant for people who hope to marry. Its members are not only Catholics; a section below tells you why.
Catholics in Nebraska
Nebraska has three dioceses: the Archdiocese of Omaha in the north-east, the Diocese of Lincoln in the south-east, and the Diocese of Grand Island across the centre and west. Most websites of the Diocese of Lincoln and its parishes refused automated visitors, so the Lincoln side of this page has only two cards, and several churches there are described without one.
In both eastern dioceses, the young adult groups name their ages. In Omaha, the archdiocese's young adult community is for ages twenty-one to thirty-nine and meets for VENI, an evening of Adoration and confession with pizza afterwards, at St Cecilia Cathedral on the second Friday of each month. In Lincoln, Salt + Light gathers young adults of the diocese of the same age, twenty-one to thirty-nine. St Wenceslaus in West Omaha has its own group for people in their twenties and early thirties.
From the Vatican's, the dioceses', Boys Town's and the parishes' own pages, opened 24 September 2026
Immaculate Conception in South Omaha has been a parish of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter since 2007, and the Fraternity also has a church in Lincoln and a seminary at Denton, just outside Lincoln. Other parishes pray in other languages: two of the four weekend Masses at St Peter in Omaha are in Spanish, as are two of six at the Grand Island cathedral; St Stanislaus, Omaha's Polish national parish, is also home to the Vietnamese parish of Our Lady of Fatima; and St Bernard has a Mass in French once a month.
Where the community gathers
The fourteen places fall into four parts of the state: Omaha and Boys Town, Lincoln, Grand Island and Kearney, and the west.
Omaha and Boys Town
Omaha and Boys Town hold eight: Dowd Memorial Chapel, St Cecilia Cathedral, St John's at Creighton, Immaculate Conception, St Stanislaus, St Peter, St Bernard and St Wenceslaus.
Lincoln
Lincoln holds two: the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and St Mary's, the Old Cathedral.
Grand Island and Kearney
Grand Island and Kearney hold two: St Mary's Cathedral in Grand Island and the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The west
The west holds two: the Sandhills parishes of Thedford, Mullen and Hyannis, and St Elizabeth Ann Seton in North Platte.
Meeting places worth knowing
The chapel at the centre of Boys Town, built in 1941, where the tomb of Venerable Father Flanagan is open to visitors and Mass is public on weekdays at twenty to twelve and three times on Sunday.
13943 Dowd DriveBoys Town
NE 68010
The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Omaha, begun in 1905 and consecrated in 1959, on a hill in Midtown, where young adults aged twenty-one to thirty-nine gather for VENI once a month.
701 North 40th StreetOmaha
NE 68131
The Jesuit church of Creighton, dedicated in 1888 to John the Evangelist, although the Jesuits had meant it for John the Baptist, with Sunday evening Masses at seven and nine during the academic year.
2500 California PlazaOmaha
NE 68178
A South Omaha parish entrusted to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in 2007, with a sung Mass on Sunday at ten, a Spanish-speaking priest, a young adult group and a bowling alley of its own.
2708 South 24th StreetOmaha
NE 68108
The Polish national parish of the archdiocese, founded in 1919, which is also the new home of Our Lady of Fatima, the Vietnamese parish, with Vietnamese Masses on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
4002 J StreetOmaha
NE 68107
A parish on the edge of downtown for English and Spanish speakers, with Spanish Masses on Sunday at one and six and a schola cantorum.
South 27th and Leavenworth StreetsOmaha
NE 68105
A parish with a Mass in French on the fourth Sunday of the month at half past twelve.
3601 North 65th StreetOmaha
NE 68104
A West Omaha parish with a young adult ministry for people in their twenties and early thirties, and a Bible study for young women.
15353 Pacific StreetOmaha
NE 68154
The Catholic church on campus at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, in a building dedicated in 2015, with a Sunday night Mass at ten past nine and weddings for its students and graduates, though not on home football days.
320 North 16th StreetLincoln
NE 68508
The Old Cathedral downtown, the cathedral of the Diocese of Lincoln from 1911 to 1965, whose website carries Salt + Light, the diocese's community for young adults aged twenty-one to thirty-nine.
1420 K StreetLincoln
NE 68508
The mother church of the Diocese of Grand Island, with Sunday Masses in English and Spanish and a Holy Hour for healing and families on Thursday afternoons.
112 South Cedar StreetGrand Island
NE 68801
The Catholic centre of the University of Nebraska at Kearney since 1952, with Sunday Mass at ten and five during the school year and confession an hour before every Mass.
811 West 27th StreetKearney
NE 68845
One of three Sandhills churches that share a parish office: Sunday Mass at nine Central time in Thedford, then half past ten Mountain time in Mullen, after a Saturday vigil in Hyannis.
204 Main StreetThedford
NE 69166
A North Platte parish whose Saturday and Sunday Masses are posted in Central time.
3301 Echo DriveNorth Platte
NE 69101
Some places appear without a card. St Francis of Assisi in Lincoln, a parish of the Fraternity of St Peter, the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, Cristo Rey, Lincoln's Spanish-speaking parish, and the Fraternity's seminary at Denton all have websites that refused automated visitors or give no street address, so we could not confirm their Masses from their own pages. Mount Michael Abbey near Elkhorn posts its daily prayer but does not say whether its Masses are public.
Distances that decide everything
A diagram, not a map. Driving times, as in the text.
Boys Town is about twenty minutes from the Omaha cathedral, and Lincoln about an hour south-west of Omaha. Kearney is about an hour west of Grand Island, and North Platte under two hours further on.
The Sandhills are another scale: Thedford to Mullen is about half an hour, Mullen to Hyannis about three quarters of an hour, and Omaha to Hyannis more than six hours.
So Catholic Nebraska is two cities close together in the east, and a long road west. Inside Omaha or Lincoln, two people can meet after work; from the east to the Sandhills, it is a journey.
cana.love asks on the form where you live and whether you would move, so the miles are known before the first message.
The Catholic year in Nebraska
VENI at the cathedral
Adoration, confession and praise for young adults at St Cecilia, with pizza after.
Young adults at Immaculate Conception
Breakfast and a talk after the morning Mass.
Mass in French
St Bernard in Omaha, at half past twelve.
The Angelus bells at Boys Town
Rung from Dowd Chapel, on the carillon Father Flanagan asked for.
Women's Bible study in West Omaha
St Wenceslaus, for women in their twenties and thirties, at seven.
Late Mass at the Newman Center
On the UNL campus, the last Mass of the weekend.
Dating as a practising Catholic in Nebraska
A Mass at Father Flanagan's tomb, the old rite in South Omaha, Vespers in Spanish at St Peter and a Sunday drive across the Sandhills: Catholics in Nebraska pray in many ways. cana.love asks which is yours.
Mass, fasting and Scripture, each asked
The form puts Mass attendance on a five-step scale, from each week to seldom. Fasting, Scripture and your reasons for joining are separate questions, and each answer can be shown to everyone or kept for yourself.
Parish and meaning, in your own words
Parish and meaning go in as free text, since a chapel in Boys Town and a church in the Sandhills would never sit on one list.
Spanish is one of five languages
The site can be used in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German or Russian.
Checked first, free, no password
Before a profile or photo is visible, it is checked, by software first and then by a person if something needs a second look. Members may not ask one another for money, and fraud ends the account for good, without a warning. Nothing costs money, nothing renews, and there is no password: a one-time link or code arrives by email.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not a Catholic-only platform.
Orthodox, Protestant and undecided Christians are welcome too, when they seek the same kind of marriage, and your own settings decide who can see you. Nebraska's Catholic parishes pray in Spanish, Vietnamese, French and Latin as well as English, and a site with a shut door would be narrower than they are. What it promises is on every profile: faith, practice and intentions, set out to be read first. Cana SpA, a company registered in Chile, operates it; the About page says more.
Meeting safely
- Make the first meeting a daytime one, somewhere public, with a leaving time agreed: coffee after Mass, a café in the Old Market in Omaha or the Haymarket in Lincoln. Tell a friend where you will be and, if you are driving I-80 home at night, when you should arrive. There is no need to share your address yet.
- With money, one rule holds: until you have met in person, send nothing, lend nothing and pay for no one's travel, whatever you are told. A single report is enough for us to look into it.
The community guidelines explain what follows a report and how an appeal works.
Common questions
Who is Father Flanagan?
The Irish-born priest who opened his first home for boys in Omaha in 1917 and founded Boys Town; the Pope recognized his heroic virtues in March 2026, making him Venerable.
Can I visit his tomb?
Yes: it is inside Dowd Memorial Chapel at Boys Town, where Mass is open to the public on weekdays and on Sundays.
Which young adult groups name an age?
ArchO Young Adults in Omaha, twenty-one to thirty-nine; Salt + Light in Lincoln, twenty-one to thirty-nine; St Wenceslaus in West Omaha, the twenties and early thirties.
Where is the traditional Latin Mass?
Immaculate Conception in South Omaha, a parish of the Fraternity of St Peter; the Fraternity also has a church in Lincoln.
Are there Masses in other languages?
Spanish at St Peter in Omaha and the Grand Island cathedral, Vietnamese at St Stanislaus, and French at St Bernard once a month.
Can I use cana.love anywhere in Nebraska?
Yes, from eighteen, in a browser, with no app required.
Next steps
In Omaha, go to VENI on a second Friday and to Mass at Boys Town on a Sunday; in Lincoln, look up Salt + Light. And to see how someone practises before you meet, open a free cana.love profile and read theirs.
Reviewed on September 24, 2026.