St. Mary’s welcomes Father Kevin Vogel

OSMOND — A new administrator has been welcomed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Osmond, as well as to of St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in Randolph and St. Joseph Parish in Pierce.

Father Kevin Vogel was recently the associate pastor of St. Boniface Parish in Elgin, St. Bonaventure Parish in Raeville, St. John the Baptist Parish in Petersburg, St. Peter de Alcántara Parish in Ewing, St. Theresa Parish in Clearwater and St. John the Baptist Parish in Deloit Township. He began his duties here on July 1, after Father Tim Forget was assigned to St. John the Evangelist in Valley.

Fr. Kevin was ordained in 2011. He explained that he loves being a priest in the rural part of the Archdiocese, since he grew up on a farm between Howells and Clarkson.

The son of Kenneth and Carol Vogel, he attended Howells Community Catholic Grade School and Howells Public High School. Fr. Kevin has three sisters and one brother: Theresa (Kent) Hoffart of Hartington, Rita (Ben) Pehl of Terry, MT, Rachel of Omaha and Adam of Overland Park, KS.

“While the Catholic faith was always an important part of our family practice, my initial interests lay first in science, in particular, astronomy and physics,” he explained. “I graduated from UNK with a physics major and math minor, but it was also during this time that I began to become more interested in learning about our Catholic faith.

“Upon graduation from college, I felt that God might be calling me to the priesthood, but as a scientist, I needed to go to the seminary in order to test the hypothesis,” he continued. “My initial hypothesis was that I was not being called, but after two years at Conception Seminary College and four years at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, I found that I could not see myself doing anything else but follow God’s call for me.”

Fr. Kevin was first assigned at St. Columbkille in Papillion. In 2016, he was asked to be pastor at St. Boniface in Elgin and St. Bonaventure in Raeville. Then in 2019, following a previous round of pastoral planning, he became associate pastor of the sixparish family of Petersburg, Raeville, Elgin, Clearwater, Ewing and rural St. John.

“Consistent throughout my six years was teaching theology and sometimes physics at Pope John Central Catholic,” he said. “I truly enjoy teaching our faith, whether it is in the context of school or adult formation. Celebrating the Eucharist is also great privilege and joy.”

Fr. Kevin said he enjoys learning to sing sacred music, hiking and visiting cemeteries and churches. He also likes to edit together videos, those related to his faith — homilies, formation talks, prayer, sacred music — or fun ones related to his hobbies.

Fr. Kevin is currently living in Randolph.