Father Meyer served numerous parishes

Father Emmett Meyer, a retired priest of the archdiocese and former administrator of Scotus Central Catholic High School in Columbus, died Dec. 3 in Sioux City, Iowa. He was 80.

A funeral Mass was held Dec. 6 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City with a graveside service later that day at Calvary Cemetery in Omaha.

A native of Bloomfield, Neb., Father Meyer attended Conception Seminary in Conception, Mo., and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He was ordained in 1964.

During his ministry, Father Meyer was active with the Cursillo Movement, the Movement for a Better World, Christians Encounter Christ, and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Father Michael Grewe, pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Omaha, longtime friend of Father Meyer and homilist at his funeral, said he was a good man and a people person.

“He was very interested in spiritual renewal and encouraged lay involvement in the church,” Father Grewe said. “He encouraged people to take their rightful place and use their gifts in the church. He had a great impact on people and on the archdiocese.

Father Meyer served as assistant pastor at St. Frances de Chantal Parish in Randolph from 1964 to 1968, and was superintendent of Scotus Central Catholic High School while in residence at Morys Haven nursing home in Columbus from 1968 to 1974. 

During the 1970s, he also was director of renewal for the archdiocese and director of religious education and campus minister at the former Pope Paul VI High School while in residence at St. Francis of Assisi Parish from 1974 to 1976 and the former St. Patrick Parish from 1976 to 1978, both in Omaha.

Father Meyer served as associate pastor of St. Mary Parish in Bellevue from 1978 to 1979. He became pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Jackson and St. Mary Parish in Hubbard in 1979, serving those parishes until 1986 when he became pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Crofton.

He was associate pastor at three Omaha parishes – Our Lady of Lourdes from 1987 to 1988, St. Philip Neri from 1988 to 1990 and Mary Our Queen from 1991 to 1992 – and St. Bernadette Parish in Bellevue from 1990 to 1991.

Father Meyer served as pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Omaha from 1992 to 2001 and St. John the Evangelist Parish in Valley from 2001 until his retirement in 2008.

He then moved to Sioux City where he had family, and lived there until his death.