Southern Nebraska Register
Father Brian Kane accepted an award for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln June 18.
Father Kane – COL Brian Kane – is Nebraska senior state chaplain. He accepted the “Pro Patria Award” from Maj. Gen. Craig Strong, the Nebraska Adjutant General, during an Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve recognition luncheon at Venue Restaurant and Lounge in Lincoln. The Pro Patria Award is presented annually in Nebraska to three employers – small, large and public sector – who have demonstrated the greatest support to Guard and Reserve employees through their leadership and practices, including adopting personnel policies that make it easier for employees to participate in the National Guard and Reserve.
Father Michael Zimmer (Capt.), Nebraska Air National Guard chaplain, nominated the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln for supporting military obligations.
“The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln fully supports military obligations and opportunities without hesitation,” said a press release from the Guard. “There is a substantial need for Catholic priest chaplains in the military and the diocese bishop unwaveringly supported multiple activations and the hiring of the first ever full-time Catholic chaplain for the Nebraska Air National Guard.”
Father Zimmer was commissioned as a chaplain for the Nebraska Air National Guard in 2018.
“The bishop has a history of supporting military service by providing multiple priests to the military as a whole, and especially by supporting the amount of time that I spend with the Guard,” he said.
In his nomination, Father Zimmer listed several practices that support service. Currently-serving military chaplains and veterans are honored by the diocese on Veterans Day and at other events. Cathedral of the Risen Christ School in Lincoln, for example, sponsored a “We Love our Military and Veterans” lunch, giving kindergarten through eighth grade students the opportunity to have lunch and talk with currently serving military and veterans during the two-hour event. He shared many other stories on military chaplains, veterans, and how they serve the military community in the Diocese of Lincoln.
During how own deployments – including six months in Qatar last year – Capt. Zimmer, who also serves as pastor of St. Mary Parish in Sutton and St. Helena in Grafton, delivered more than 300 religious services to more than 2,500 people and managed a weekly Chapel PA program that reached more than 200,000 airmen in total. Additionally, he was able to perform crisis counseling, suicide ideation/interventions, injury briefings, and be engaged with military units both at home and abroad.
The bishop and the Lincoln Diocese, the Guard’s release said, have “directly supported and enabled their chaplains to provide this type of care to military members and veterans.”
