Archbishop George J. Lucas explores the Gospel readings from Luke for the first two Sundays of Lent to help us immerse ourselves into this liturgical season.

Highlights:

We are flooded with communications. It's increasingly clear that the technology we rely on--social media, the smartphones we carry everywhere--can help us to build up real human communion and can just as readily thwart it. How can we begin to critically engage our relationship with media and technology? As Archbishop Lucas says in this episode, "We have to step back every so often like I’m doing with you now, and ask, 'What is this tool and how do I use it as a member of the body of Christ to deepen the bonds of communion?'"

"Because Jesus has sent us into the world to bring the light of the Gospel and to let it shine everywhere, the three bishops of Nebraska feel a responsibility to not only participate in the internal affairs of the church, but also to share the truth with our neighbors across this state," says Archbishop Lucas. "One of the ways in which we do that very effectively is through the work of the Nebraska Catholic Conference."

The Nebraska Catholic Conference represents the Church in matters of public policy pertaining to four key areas of concern: human life and dignity, education, marriage and family life, and social and human development. Visit necatholic.org for more information.

In several parts of archdiocese - both metro and rural - populations have shifted or are declining. We also know that the number of active priests will continue to decrease over the coming years. It is easy to fall into a defensive posture: "How will we protect what we have? How are we going to keep our parish open?”

But that isn't the attitude of the Gospel, which is always missionary.

Happy new year, and happy Feast of the Epiphany!

"The coming of the Magi reminds us that there might be an opportunity to share Jesus with people who seem to us unlikely to be looking for him. It is God who creates an opening in the minds and hearts of others and we shouldn’t be reticent or stingy about sharing the joy of the Gospel."

In this first episode of 2019, Archbishop Lucas talks about the importance of the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6) and what it tells us about our mission as Christians.

In the face of challenges - those facing the Church, those facing us personally - it's easy to feel that God is distant from us. What the Church proposes, however, is that the Lord is near and that He enters into our particular circumstances. This time of year, our primary task is to ask for Him to come near, and to be open to how He wants to make Himself known to us.

A few highlights:

In October, Archbishop George J. Lucas conducted listening sessions on the sexual abuse scandals with parishioners across the Archdiocese of Omaha. In this week’s interview, communications manager David Hazen speaks with him about what he learned at those meetings and his commitment to even higher standards of ministerial and personal conduct on the part of bishops and priests.

Archbishop Lucas is joined by Fr. Jeff Lorig to talk about the archdiocese's upcoming ArchOmaha Unite event.

On Oct. 17 the church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch (35 – 108 A.D.). In one of his letters, he wrote, “See that you all follow the bishop just as Jesus Christ does the Father,” and “Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop.” While we have talked a lot recently about the sins and failures of church leaders, Ignatius brings us back to fundamental questions: What is a bishop, and what is his vocation?

In this episode, Archbishop Lucas helps us understand what it means to be charged with teaching, governing, and sanctifying the people of God in a particular local Church.

It is obvious that recent scandals in our church have demoralized, confused and wounded many of the faithful. How can we begin to move toward some kind of healing?

In this episode: