The Funeral and Burial of the Rev. Stephen J. Gutgsell

Nearly 1,000 people gathered at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha on Dec. 18 to pray for and mourn the Rev. Stephen J. Gutgsell, who was killed during a Dec. 10 break-in at the St. John the Baptist rectory in Fort Calhoun. "I am confident that when anguish and distress and persecution and peril, when the sword came directly upon him in the early hours of the morning of Sunday Dec. 10, he had the chance to affirm his love for Christ and call upon his mercy," Bishop of Grand Island Joseph G. Hanefeldt said in the funeral homily. "Nothing was able to separate him from the love of God, and thus, I believe as the Book of Wisdom says, he is at peace." Photos by Bob Ervin