LINCOLN (SNR) – Bishop James Conley will ordain four new priests for the Diocese of Lincoln Saturday, May 28 — Deacons Liam O’Shea-Creal, Tony Schukei, Christian Schwenka and Dominic Winter.
The ordination Mass will be celebrated in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, 3500 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, at 11 a.m.
The bishop will also ordain two men as deacons Friday, May 27 at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ: Scott Nemec and Louden Redinger.
A Mass of the Ascension will be celebrated Thursday, May 26 at 7 p.m. at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center, 320 N. 16th St., Lincoln. All are invited to attend.
Deacon Liam O’Shea-Creal
Deacon Liam O’Shea-Creal (pronounced “Oh'Shay-Kreel”) was raised in Lincoln as a member of St. Teresa Parish.
The son of Robert Creal and Mary O’Shea-Creal, he has two sisters, two brothers, a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law. He attended Pius X High School in Lincoln, graduating in 2013, and two years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). O’Shea-Creal graduated from St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward, then attended Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Md.
While at UNL, O’Shea-Creal said he began to feel unsettled about his future.
“When this happened,” he said, “I returned to what had brought me peace in the past: I served Mass and Exposition at the Newman Center while I was working there as a janitor. Father (Benjamin) Holdren taught me discernment and helped me follow the path of peace laid out by the Lord. I felt a lot of peace when I considered studying and praying in the seminary with other men with the same mindset.”
When he applied to the seminary, he said, “I felt a confidence in my future that I had never known. The Lord was at work and thankfully many helped me find him!”
Deacon O’Shea-Creal listed some of the others who gave that help.
“My parents would ask me if I wanted to be a priest when I started serving Mass, and there was always an openness in our home to consider a vocation such as this,” he said.
That openness to his vocation was encouraged by the School Sisters of Christ the King who taught him in grade school and “always spoke of vocation with a smile, which is attractive to a child growing up,” Deacon O’Shea-Creal said. “We wanted to pray and live with the joy of the sisters!”
Having priests as teachers in high school also helped him consider seminary a “normal” path, he said: Father Holdren, Father Joseph Bernardo, Father Christopher Miller. Speaking about seminary as a normal period of life that most men could try, O’Shea-Creal said, would be helpful for the Church.
“Not all who are called to the seminary are called to the priesthood,” he said. “But I am a firm believer that no man wastes time in the seminary. Even if a young man struggles during his seminary days, he is struggling with the Lord and will grow into whatever vocation he is called to. We can encourage men to try seminary without thinking that they have to be a priest right away. Formation takes time and one doesn't have to be ready right away; God is willing to walk with us as we grow.”
O’Shea-Creal also said serving at Mass as a young man “helped me foster my call without me even knowing it.” He said serving helped him to be “caught up in the prayer of the Church.”
“I always felt close to the Eucharist and the priest when I got to serve Mass, dress–kind of–like a priest and assist at the altar.
“The offertory is still one of the most special times in my day because I get to share the contents of my heart with the Lord as he offers himself and my offerings to the Father. Essentially this is the priesthood and I have grown to love that moment and to find myself most fundamentally in offering myself to the Lord,” he said.
Deacon O’Shea-Creal now looks forward to offering that gift to the people of God as a priest.
“I am very excited to offer sacraments in a way that was helpful for me in my life,” he said. “Even when times were challenging my family and friends helped me by encouraging me to frequent the sacraments. To be a priest who feeds, reconciles, washes, and anoints those in need will be a life of witnessing God's providence at work, God's faithfulness is consistently on show through his sacraments, I can't wait to take part in that.”
O’Shea-Creal will celebrate his first Mass of thanksgiving Sunday, May 29 at noon in St. Teresa Church, 735 S. 36th St.
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Deacon Tony Schukei
Deacon Tony Schukei (pronounced “shook-EYE”) is the son of Clint and Sheila Schukei and has two sisters. He was raised in Norfolk as a member of Sacred Heart Parish.
After graduating from Norfolk Catholic High School, Schukei attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and received a bachelor’s of landscape architecture and a bachelor’s of science in design. He lived and worked in Lincoln and was a member of St. Teresa Parish.
While people broached the idea of the priesthood with Schukei at different times in his life, he said the first time someone asked him if he had considered seminary and it really made him wonder was when his roommate after college asked him the question.
“I am a firm believer that one becomes like those whom they surround themself with,” he said. “I have been grateful to always had friends who formed me in many good habits. In college and thereafter, many of the friends I had were living faith-filled lives which slowly started being more a part of my life.”
Realizing he had never really discerned if he was called to the seminary, he dedicated Lent that year as a time to ask for the grace of knowing whether he should go to the seminary.
“It was the fruit of that Lent, through the silence of my penitential practices that I came to find the peace in the idea of going to seminary,” he said. In a few months he committed to that idea by going and letting the vocation director know.
Deacon Schukei said it is important to encourage men to think about what aspects of fatherhood they are drawn to.
“The reality is that all men are called to fatherhood,” he explained. “It comes in various forms: biological, natural, and spiritual. Encouraging a man to consider and discern what are some of his greatest desires with regard to fatherhood might help to see where God is leading him.”
Schukei is eager to see where God continues to lead him as a priest.
“Certainly I am excited to celebrate Mass,” he said, “but after that I think it will be to celebrate the sacraments of healing: Penance and the Anointing of the Sick. I believe it is a privileged place to be the instrument of God’s healing work of the soul.”
Schukei will celebrate his first Mass of thanksgiving Sunday, May 29 at 4 p.m. in St. Mary Church, 2300 Madison Ave., Norfolk.
Deacon Christian Schwenka
Deacon Christian Schwenka (pronounced Shween-key) was raised in Heartwell as a member of Holy Family Parish.
His parents are Dean and Mary Jo Schwenka and he has two sisters and two brothers, including Father Andrew Schwenka who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln in 2019.
Deacon Christian Schwenka graduated from Minden High School and studied agricultural engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He discerned his call to the seminary during his senior year of college.
Deacon Schwenka said his brother Father Schwenka – now serving as parochial vicar at St. Wenceslaus Parish in Wahoo – was the most influential person in discerning his own vocation.
“Until he gave his yes to the seminary, I never truly considered it,” he said. “Once he did and I saw the joy and fulfilment it gave him, I began to pray more deeply about my own vocation. Throughout the discernment process he’s always made himself available to me when I needed to talk something out with someone. I know I wouldn’t be here without his example.”
Deacon Schwenka also said an influential grace came from his mother’s prayers.
“She prayed to Mary asking her to intercede for her and to give her another child,” he explained. “She told Mary that if she became pregnant she would give that child to God. She eventually had two sons. She gave both back to Him.”
Many other experiences helped bring Deacon Schwenka to his calling. He was leading a Bible study in his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon at UNL, and became the FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) Greek president. He said they helped him to take his faith more seriously.
“It ceased being just my thing but something that was meant to be shared with others,” he said.
Then, in a holy hour at a leadership retreat Father Robert Matya hosted for students, Father Matya read the story of the rich young man who went away from Jesus, sad, because he had many possessions.
“Father Matya said he didn’t know why, but he felt called to read that passage,” Deacon Schwenka related. “I knew why. I had been telling God I would do whatever He wanted me to do with my life if He just told me. I think I knew I was called, but I needed assurance. The words of the Gospel hit me in a way I’ve rarely experienced. I knew then I was supposed to be a priest."
When asked how the people of the Church can encourage men to being open to the call to priesthood, Deacon Schwenka said, “simply love your priests.”
“If you love your priests and support them in their mission, the vocation of the priesthood will show its beauty,” he said. “The children of your community will see and respect their priests because the parents respect them.”
Schwenka said he is excited to teach and preach of the depth of God’s love for all people.
“It’s not cliché,” he said, “for it is rooted in our very being. Lived out, this takes form in the sacraments. Bringing people into union with God through baptism, providing the body of Christ to His people, and absolving them of their sins in His name is a gift that can’t be put into words. His mercy is endless. His love is endless. I can’t wait to share that with everyone.”
Schwenka will celebrate his first Mass of thanksgiving Sunday, May 29 at 4:30 p.m. in St. John the Baptist Church, 624 N. Garber Ave., Minden.
Deacon Dominic Winter
Deacon Dominic Winter, the son of Blake and Cheryl Winter, was raised in Lincoln as a member of St. Joseph Parish and homeschooled with his three sisters and three brothers. His brother Father Evan Winter was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln in 2016.
Deacon Winter expressed his desire to be a priest at the age 5, before anyone had suggested the idea.
“My parents would take us to Mass every day,” he said; “it was very clear that Mass was most important to them and our faith imbued nearly everything we did.”
He said serving at Mass kept him close to the call, as well as “the excellent religious studies and celebrations we did at home.”
“I grew to love the season of Advent because we would celebrate it so well,” he said.
An experience at the age of 14 solidified his relationship with Jesus and Mary.
“Mom would encourage time to pray after Mass. One time, I felt Jesus and Mary’s presence so powerfully during that time I realized I wanted His friendship above all else,” he said.
When Winter was attending Christendom College, his father called and invited him to go on a retreat over fall break.
The retreat was about being a good father. In a talk on St. Joseph, the speaker said, “St. Joseph was Guardian of the Son of God.”
“In my heart,” Deacon Winter said, “I realized with great force, as if God was speaking in my inner voice: ‘that’s what a priest does.’ I looked at the monstrance, realizing I would be charged to guard Christ in the Sacrament.”
He entered the seminary the next year.
Deacon Winter said that being open to hearing God’s voice is the most important thing for all people,
“No matter what you’re called to, listening to Him changes your life,” he said. “I’ve counted seven times in my life He’s radically changed me – twice after I entered seminary – and every time was because I was open to listen.”
Deacon Winter is eager to celebrate the Mass as a priest.
“In practicing,” he said, “it feels like what I was built to do. Confessions will be awesome too. Besides Sacraments, I was considering all a priest might do, from missionary work, to teaching, to writing… and it all appealed to me! So I’ll say I’m most excited about teaching, since it’s most likely to happen!”
Winter will celebrate his first Mass of thanksgiving Sunday, May 29 at 9 a.m. in St. Joseph Church, 7900 Trendwood Dr., Lincoln.
