OMAHA — Sounds of an indigenous Mayan language, along with Spanish prayer, guitar strumming and ceremonial incense, filled the South Omaha church previously a home base to European newcomers.
The current congregation, many wearing traditional huipil garb, was celebrating its rare spiritual leader, believed to be the country’s only permanent Catholic deacon who hails from the Q’anjob’al-speaking highlands of Guatemala.
More specifically, the gathering earlier this month marked three years since Rolando Lorenzo Nicolas became a deacon in the 23-county Omaha archdiocese. His 2023 ordination was such a big deal it drew a pope-appointed cardinal from Guatemala and was officiated by the highest-ranking Catholic in northeast Nebraska.
Nicolas has carried the four years of diaconate training invested by the local archdiocese into a service ministry focused on the area’s Maya community. He assists at Masses, counsels couples, inmates and youth and presides over pivotal events such as baptisms, funerals and weddings…