St. Barnabas Parish buys historic building

A building that was once home to a well-known World War I pilot was purchased by St. Barnabas Parish in Omaha, which it will use as its parish house and rectory beginning Jan. 1.

The Offutt-Yost house, and more recently, former Cornerstone Mansion bed and breakfast, was the home of Lt. Jarvis Offutt, the first Nebraska pilot to die in WWI and the namesake of Offutt Air Force Base near Bellevue.

The house will provide needed space for educational, devotional, outreach, fellowship and administrative activities, including major events planned to celebrate the church’s 150th anniversary in 2019.

“St. Barnabas’ new parish house allows us to create a true campus where we can nurture our parish families and young adults in the Catholic faith,” said Father Jason Catania, pastor, “and from which to proclaim the faith to our neighborhood and beyond.”

The parish belongs to the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a diocese-like jurisdiction established in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglican congregations in North America entering full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The parish entered the Catholic Church in 2013.