LINCOLN (SNR) – Bishop James Conley appointed Father Justin Fulton as vicar general of the Diocese of Lincoln, along with administrative oversight-strategy and mission for Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska.
Bishop Conley appointed Katie Patrick, current regional director of social services for CSS, as interim executive director for Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska.
The appointments are effective March 15.
Father Fulton was raised in Auburn, and received a degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in 2003 in finance and marketing. He later completed a master’s degree in organizational management, entrepreneurial and economic development from Peru State College in 2008. After working as a supervisor at State Farm in Lincoln, he enrolled in the seminary and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln in 2015. Fulton also holds a master’s degree in ecclesial administration and management from the Catholic University of America in 2018. He began serving at CSS in 2018.
The vicar general – an appointment required by canon law – assists the bishop in the governance of the entire diocese. He coordinates the activities of the diocese’s administration.
As vicar general Father Fulton will be a member of the Diocesan College of Consultors, the Presbyteral Council, the Finance Council and the Catholic Foundation. He will also be the head of the department of insurance, health and property for the diocese.
Father Fulton said he was extremely humbled and grateful to God to serve the laity of southern Nebraska, the priests and religious of the diocese, and Bishop Conley in this capacity.
“All of us have particular roles in the Body of Christ: the teacher in the classroom, the student in the desk, the farmer in the field, the nurse on the floor, the trucker on the road, the religious in their prayer, the priest with the sacraments,” Father Fulton said. “I am humbled to know this is where God wants me at this time to work with everyone for the build-up of His Kingdom in southern Nebraska.”
Father Fulton succeeds Msgr. Mark Huber, who has served in various chancery positions since 1999.
Msgr. Huber asked Bishop Conley in late 2020 to consider if his return to the diocese might be a good time to think about a change in the vicar general position. After some months of prayer and discernment, the idea of a change was confirmed.
Msgr. Huber said he was grateful for the opportunity to serve with and for many of the Lord’s people over these years.
“When I was ordained a priest I had no inkling that many years would be involved in diocesan administration,” he said. “The gift of faith allowed me to understand that Christ is really present in the Eucharist and that was the foundation for my accepting the call to be a priest; I continue to look forward each day to encountering the Lord, our daily bread, in Holy Communion. I have also had the chance to be blessed by parishioners at Cathedral, and in David City, Denton, Beaver Crossing and Utica who shared their faith, hope and charity with me.”
Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska was founded in 1932 and serves all individuals regardless of faith in the southern third of Nebraska, 24,000 square miles.
CSS provides food pantry services, emergency services such as rent and utility assistance, disaster relief, refugee and immigration services, St. Gianna Women’s Homes – a program for women and their children escaping violence and domestic abuse – and a clinical/family counseling program.
Katie Patrick graduated from Pius X High School in Lincoln in 2002 and UNL in 2006. She received a master’s degree in diplomacy and international relations at Seton Hall University in 2010, then spent a year volunteering in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the Canossian Daughters of Charity.
She was named director of regional services for CSS in 2019, at which time Father Christopher Kubat, then executive director, said she had a “built-in heart for helping the poor and needy.”
Last year, Patrick shared several new ventures underway at CSS with the Register, such as “Random Works of Mercy,” which connects volunteer groups with individual needs in the community; the “Adopt-A-Family” refugee mentorship program; food truck festivals for clients and community members in need; a breakfast program to accompany the busy sack lunch program; financial literacy courses for women at St. Gianna Women’s Homes and more.
Patrick described some of the work as a way to create “a culture of encounter rather than one of transaction.”
“We are always looking for new ways to bring our community together,” she said, “and what better way to do so than by serving those in need?”
