Many attend Omaha Mass celebrating Archbishop Cupich’s new role

Omaha, Neb. — More than 600 people, including three bishops, an abbot, priests, seminarians, friends and family attended a Dec. 27 Mass at St. Margaret Mary Church in Omaha to celebrate native son Archbishop Blase Cupich’s new appointment to lead the archdiocese of Chicago.
“It was a blessed, holy and happy Mass,” said Katie Pelletier, a member of St. Wenceslaus Parish in Omaha and a friend of the Cupich family, which includes nine children, four of whom still live in the Omaha area.
Archbishop Cupich, who grew up in Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Omaha and was in town for five days at Christmas, presided and gave the homily at the Mass on the Feast of the Holy Family. He said one way the faithful can know God’s presence is through family and friends.
“It’s important for us, once in a while, to think back and share what life has meant to us and to each other,” the archbishop said, thanking everyone who gathered at the Mass. He also recalled some of what he learned about maneuvering through personalities and needs in his first assignment from 1975 to 1978 as an associate pastor of St. Margaret Mary.
One parishioner suggested: “Padre, just one easy lesson ... don’t mess with the guild,” Archbishop Cupich said, as people in the congregation laughed.
Omaha Archbishop George Lucas, who concelebrated the Mass, thanked Archbishop Cupich for coming and assured him that people in Omaha will pray for him in his new assignment, which officially began Nov. 18 at his in-stallation Mass.
“We know it’s a big job, it’s a complicated job,” Archbishop Lucas said. “Every day, we want you to know we are praying for you.”
After the Mass, Archbishop Cupich spent more than an hour at a reception, greeting and having his picture taken with people who waited in a line that extended the length of a large hall.
His brother, Rich Cupich, a Latin teacher at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha and member of St. Margaret Mary Parish, said it was a beautiful Mass, and the family was grateful to all those who came.

“They are all friends he has touched and who have touched him, and have kept up with him,” he said. “This is what Christianity is all about — remembering where you’ve come from.”