New Priest To Serve Neligh, Tilden Parishes, Teach At Pope John

Although this will be his latest move, it certainly isn’t his biggest.

Father Patrick Nields, who was working as a lawyer just 8 years ago, has been assigned as the new priest for Neligh and Tilden, according to an announcement by the Omaha Archdiocese.

Coming from St. Columbkille Parish in Papillion, Fr. Nields will be the new pastor for St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Neligh and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Tilden. He will also have teaching duties at Pope John Central Catholic High School in Elgin.

Fr. Nields, who currently serves as an associate pastor in Papillion, will begin his pastoral duties in Neligh and Tilden the weekend of July 1. The current priest for the parishes, Father Christopher Onuoha, has been assigned to visitation duties at Via Christe, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Clarkson Hospital, with residence at Holy Name Parish, all in Omaha.

Neligh and Tilden will be the first parishes in which Fr. Nields has been assigned as a pastor for a six-year term.

He grew up in Omaha, attended Creighton Prep and then the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he earned a business degree before attending law school at Creighton University. He practiced law in Omaha for more than nine years. Fr. Nields entered the seminary in 2010, and graduated from Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis in 2016. He was then ordained into the priesthood and assigned as an associate pastor in Papillion.