Father Taphorn receives warm sendoff

St. John Paul II Newman Center resident and University of Nebraska at Omaha student Jack Flaxbeard presents Father Joseph Taphorn with a St. John Paul II-themed chasuble and stole during a Dec. 13 community night at the center. More than 100 students came together to wish Father Taphorn well as he prepared to leave his post as pastor and director of the center to become rector of the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul, Minn., this month. Father Taphorn wore the vestments for the first time during his final Mass at the center on Christmas morning. Flaxbeard also is parish council member and liturgy committee chairman at the center.