By Deacon Matthew Hecker, Ph.D.
for the Register
At the April 14 Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln, priests marking jubilee anniversaries of their ordination this year were honored, including Father Brian Kane. He will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in May.
Father Brian Kane hails from Silver Spring, Md. His mother, however, was raised on a farm near St. Edward, Nebr., and the family vacationed at the farm every summer.
Thus, in 1991, when it came time to choose a college, Father Kane chose to enroll at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), in order to be close to the farm.
Originally intending to major in construction management, Father Kane switched to education. While at UNL, Father Kane got involved at the Newman Center. In 1994, he applied and was accepted for seminary studies for the Diocese of Lincoln.
Father Kane enrolled as a collegian at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. In 1996, he completed the final two years of his undergraduate coursework. Then, remaining at St. Charles, he commenced his four-year program of theology. In 2000, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz ordained him a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln.
Father Kane spent the first two years of his priesthood as an assistant pastor at St. John the Apostle Parish in Lincoln. During that time, he also taught at Pius X High School.
In 2002, Father Kane was assigned as assistant pastor at the UNL Newman Center and continued teaching at Pius X.
In 2003, Bishop Bruskewitz permitted Father Kane to serve as a chaplain in the Nebraska Army National Guard (ARNG). That year, in a ceremony at the Newman Center, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the ARNG. In 2005, along with the 67th Area Support Group, Father Kane was deployed to the Al-Anbar Province of (western) Iraq for a period of 14 months.
Returning to Nebraska in 2006, Father Kane was assigned as pastor of St. George Parish in Morse Bluff and Sacred Heart Parish in Cedar Hill. While there, he taught religion at Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo, before being named principal in 2007.
In 2010, Father Kane again deployed. This time, he was attached to the 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, and sent to southern Iraq. The deployment lasted a full year.
In the summer of 2011, Father Kane returned to Nebraska and was named pastor of St. James Parish in Mead and chief administrative officer of Bishop Neumann High School. He remained there four years.
In 2015, Father Kane returned to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary as the dean of men. He held the position for six years before being named rector of St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward in 2021. Father Kane continues to serve the diocese in this capacity.
So, in his priesthood, Father Kane has “been at the seminary two times, first as a seminarian and then returning as a priest. I received great gifts both times,” he said.
Father Kane has also served as director of seminarians for the diocese since 2017. And in June 2024, he was named as director of ongoing formation for junior clergy for the diocese – priests within the first five years following their ordination.
When he first entered the seminary as a student, Father Kane said, he was advised: “Seminary formation is a set of important relationships.” He has now translated it to: “Priesthood is a series of important relationships.”
“God has blessed me with some amazing relationships,” he said, “most of all, drawing me closer to Himself.”
In addition to his service to the diocese, Father Kane was promoted to the rank of colonel and named as state chaplain for the Nebraska ARNG.
“I’m so thankful for the gift of so many people’s prayers,” he said, “while I was deployed, and now as rector with the seminarians. The prayers of the people are very sustaining to me as a priest.”
