Fr. Michael McCabe
Fr. McCabe came to St. Joseph from being Pastor of St. Mary Church in Nebraska City where he served for 20 years. His duties included serving as Superintendent of Nebraska City Lourdes Central Catholic K-12, Chaplain at St. Mary's Community Hospital and the endowment committees for Lourdes and Falls City Sacred Heart. Prior to Nebraska City, Fr. McCabe spent five years as Pastor of St. Mary in Dawson and St. Anne in Shubert. Berfore that, he was Assistant Pastor at St. Mary in Nebraska City and at St. Teresa Church in Lincoln.
He has been a member of the Bishop's Finance Committee since 2004 and was a board member for the Crossing the Threshold Endowment from 2004-2008. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Creighton University in 1982, and his Masters in Business Administration from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He continued his education as Mount St. Mary Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity. He was ordained on May 27, 1989.
Fr. McCabe is honored to serve God's people at St. Joseph Parish. Some of his outside interests are musicals, trains, investments, and a good round of golf.
Fr. Robert Froeschl
Fr. Robert Froeschl grew up as a parishioner of Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Falls City, NE, and graduated from Falls City Sacred Heart in 2006. After graduating from UNL, he became a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary. He served at the University of Florida for a year and then two years at Indiana University – Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI). While at IUPUI, Fr. Froeschl heard his call to the priesthood on September 30, 2012 during the evening Mass while the Gospel was being proclaimed. At that moment, he knew he was called to be a priest and began to desire and see himself as a priest. He entered seminary in the Fall of 2014 and studied Pre-theology at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward. He then studied theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD and was ordained to the priesthood May 23, 2020. His first priestly assignment was at St. John the Apostle parish in Lincoln from 2020–23. He then served at Blessed Sacrament parish in Lincoln from ‘23-‘24. Also, in the Summer of ’23 he became the first FOCUS missionary alumni priest National chaplain. He served quarter time as a National Chaplain with FOCUS while retaining his responsibilities to the parish and schools. Fr. Froeschl was then assigned to St. Patrick’s in McCook, NE from ’24-’25 while retaining his quarter time role as National Chaplain with FOCUS. Now, Fr. Robert Froeschl is assigned to St. Joseph’s parish in Lincoln as the assistant pastor and the chaplain for Pius X high school and has concluded his official time with FOCUS.
Deacon Matt Hecker
Matthew Hecker, Ph.D., is the chief administrative officer of Lincoln Diocese Schools. He is the first permanent deacon from the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, ordained on May 28, 2021 by Bishop James Conley. Deacon Hecker discerned the call to the diaconate in the Diocese of Lincoln which has no formal permanent diaconate formation program, so he entered into the program offered through the Archdiocese of Omaha. On the subject of permanent deacons, he said, “It is an ancient role in the Church from the wisdom of the apostles, and ties back into the earliest understanding of the Church. It is not something new, it is something old.” Deacon Hecker and his wife, Dani, have three daughters and two grandchildren.
Fr. Michael Zimmer
Info to come.