Our History:

St. Vincent de Paul Parish has been growing for over a century. Even before the establishment of the first church in 1878 historians record that in 1872 Seward was a mission from one of the parishes in Lincoln (then called Salt Creek) with Father William Kelley as pastor. The village of Seward had been established only four years earlier. Bishop James O'Connor was then the Vicar Apostolic of "all of Nebraska and west." However, in 1885, the Diocese of Omaha was established, and in 1887, from that the Lincoln Diocese was formed with Bishop Thomas Bonacum as the first bishop.

Father Kelly followed the Burlington Railroad as it was building westward, since many of his parishioners were members of the construction gang. He established missions along the way, including Seward. He continued his visits to Seward until 1874. His successors were Father John Curtis and his assistants, Father Thomas Malloy and Father J. M. J. Smyth. They continued shepherding the mission until 1876, when Father William Byrne and his assistant, Father John Lee, assumed responsibility. It was under the direction of Father Byrne that plans got underway for Seward's first Catholic church to be located on three lots on the corner of Seward and Third Streets.

On July 20, 1878, Seward had its first resident pastor, Father P. N. O'Brien, who came to Seward from Springbrook, New York. Under his direction a church on the corner of Seward and Third Streets was completed at a cost of $2,500.00, and a one story frame rectory of five rooms was built. His responsibilities included pastoring the Catholics in Ulysses and York.

The reason for choosing St. Vincent as patron of the little Seward church in 1878 is unknown. Several saints with this name have lived; no one is sure who of them was intended. Finally, in the early 1960's, Father Petrus selected St. Vincent de Paul for the sake of preciseness.

The new parish grew quickly. Additions to the church were added in 1910 under Father F. A. O'Brien and again in 1913 under Father George Agius. Milford became a mission of Seward in 1944. In 1945, renovation under the supervision of Father Joseph Kenney began with members of the Holy Name Society donating their time to make the repairs. Then in 1949, again under the direction of Father Kenney, the church was cut in half and "stretched" to cover an enlarged foundation. The new basement gave the parish its first social hall. The cost of improvements made between 1943 and 1950 was $30,000.00.

Even though the enlargement of the church doubled the seating capacity, the need was still there for even more room, and our growing parish continued to move toward a major building project. A building fund had been established, and in 1962, the parish purchased twenty acres of land on the north side of Seward for a new church, social hall and rectory. Ground breaking ceremonies were held on March 19, 1972, and construction began on April 1 under Father Clarence Reisdorf's direction. Through careful investments and generous donations, the building was totally paid for by the time of its official dedication on October 7, 1973. The 16,110 sq. ft. structure and parking lot was built at a total cost of $542,448.00. The new church was built following the theme "Sermon on the Mount" with the style of building and stained glass windows depicting the eight beatitudes. All of the equipment and furnishings for the kitchen and social hall were provided by the Parish Council of Catholic Women .

An addition again became necessary. At a cost of $98,000.00, this addition was completed in 1978, and included three classrooms and office space for the religious education program.

Information about other construction and the school additions ie new parking and playground go here.

Historical Highlights of St. Vincent de Paul Parish:
Our parish facilities are designed to help us fulfill commitments we have made to three segments of parish life: worship, religious education, and social interaction. Since our current facility was dedicated, our parish family has steadily grown and. continues to grow. As a result of this growth, at many times we have overflow crowds at 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sundays and at other liturgical events such as Christmas and First Communion. Both the parish hall and the kitchen facility are too small for current needs. More space is needed for parish meetings, library, storage and offices. In addition,we have five CCD classes meeting in the rectory and in the basement of the rectory, which could be difficult to evacuate in case of fire.

In the fall of 1994, we conducted a fund-raising campaign which netted $880,000 in pledges to be paid in the next five years. At the end of 1995, $373,442 of those pledges had been paid. As of February 15, 1996, the Parish Corporation, backed by the Parish Council, had voted to construct a parish hall and additional classrooms and renovate the existing Church building at an estimated cost of $1,479,227. Erich Broer of Lincoln is the contractor for the project, which was designed by Clark Enersen Partners of Lincoln.

Funds for the project will come from the $450,000 the parish has in the Diocesan Investment and Loan, from donations from the parish campaign drive and from a future Diocese Investment and Loan loan. The present sanctuary will be enlarged into the current parish hall, adding a cry-room, wider narthex as well as new office space and a room for music practice and liturgical and music supplies. Along with the new parish hall and kitchen, we will have additional classrooms, giving us tourteen classes upstairs, which is the current number of classes we have on Wednesday nights for CCD.

Thanks to our Building Committee and the Parish Council, the plan is better today than it was at the time of our financial campaign. From the meeting of the Building Committee of the Diocese on August 2,1993, to the final approval of the Parish Council on February 13, 1996, it has been a long process in which many parishioners took part, too many to thank here. We can be thankful to God that he has worked in us to provide for the future of His mission in our parish.