The 2024 Distinguished Stewardship Award is presented to Father James Meysenburg in recognition of his extraordinary generosity in sharing his time, talent, and treasure with Pius X and our community.
Growing up as the youngest of ten children on a farm near Bellwood, NE, Father James Meysenburg attended Saint Mary’s elementary school and graduated from David City Aquinas High School in 1981. In 2011, Father was honored by his alma mater with the Aquinas Hall of Fame Award. He entered the seminary following high school and graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts, a Master of Divinity in Theology, and a Master of Arts in Theology. In 1994, Father earned his Master of Education in Administration from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. In fall 2021, Father Meysenburg participated in the Institute for Continuing Theological Education program at the Pontifical North American College campus in Rome.
Currently serving as pastor at Saints Peter and Paul-Falls City, Reverend Meysenburg was ordained a priest by Bishop Flavin for the Diocese of Lincoln in 1989. Before launching his 28-year career as a high school administrator, he served the Lincoln Diocese in many parishes, including Saint Wenceslaus-Wahoo, Saint Joseph-Lincoln, Immaculate Conception-Rulo, Saint Mary-Arago, Saint Cecilia-Hastings, Saint Ann-Doniphan, Sacred Heart-Kenesaw.
While a parochial vicar, Father taught at Bishop Neumann and Pius X High School. He continued to teach while leading at Sacred Heart in Falls City and Saint Cecilia in Hastings. In each parish and school setting, Father enjoyed the students, staff and families and integrated fully into the life of the school and parishes where he resided, attending games, performing arts and other activities.
While working to get his administrative endorsement, Father Meysenburg was assigned as assistant superintendent to Monsignor Liam Barr at Pius X for one year. He was then assigned to be the K-12 principal at Sacred Heart School in Falls City. From there, he was named the superintendent of Hastings Catholic Schools. He continued this leadership position for ten years until he was asked to be the Superintendent/Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at Pius X High School. He remained in that capacity for fourteen years, while in residence at Saint Patrick, Cathedral of the Risen Christ, and Saint Joseph parishes in Lincoln. Though there were many challenges, he loved his work in each school because of the students and families he served and the people with whom he worked.
While at Pius X, Father Meysenburg helped maintain and expand the strong Catholic identity for which Pius X has received national recognition. Many students under his care went on to become religious sisters, seminarians, and priests. Pius X was honored as a School of Excellence three times by the Cardinal Newman Society Catholic Honor Roll (2006, 2007, 2014), twice under Fr. Meysenburg’s leadership. In addition to his commitment to growing the Kingdom of God, Fr. Meysenburg also worked to continue and expand Pius X’s tradition of excellence in academics and activities.
He personally worked to launch the acclaimed Academic Decathlon program. Many new classes were also added with Fr. Meysenburg’s leadership: Latin I-IV, Trigonometry and Statistics, AP Art History, and many more. Students with diverse needs also received additional assistance when he added the new position of Academic Success Coordinator. The Advanced Placement program was expanded, and more opportunities were given for students to earn college credit during high school. The number of NSAA varsity sports increased to twenty-one with the addition of swimming, diving, and bowling for both girls and boys. Pole Vault was added to the track and field program. Twenty-five state championships were earned during Father Meysenburg’s time. Awards and honors in dance, cheerleading, performing arts and visual arts were achieved, as well, during his time. Father attended nearly everything and was a champion for all activities.
Fr. Meysenburg ensured tuition remained a high-value for families, while improving compensation for hard-working educators. With more than one hundred staff members under his care, Fr. Meysenburg helped Pius X reach a long-term goal of bringing faculty salaries to 90% (aggregate) of Lincoln Public Schools by 2017-18, and continuously advocated to improve employee benefits. He heralded and was a leader when the diocese changed and vastly improved the retirement offering for employees. Fr. Meysenburg’s genuine love for others could be seen in many ways, from ensuring the financial health and long-term stability of the school, to countless hours personally spent plowing snow to clear the school’s parking lots, to salvaging all the copper from the old Clark Jeary building to pay for asbestos abatement, to refurbishing a Mother’s Room for staff who are nursing mothers. When he saw a need, he worked diligently to address it. Father was known for bringing Christ’s love to others in every situation, particularly when students, staff and family members faced times of tragic loss. He helped others heal and find our Lord. He always cared.
With Fr. Meysenburg’s leadership, skilled fundraising, and vision in creating a comprehensive Master Facilities Plan, he also ensured that many Pius X facilities were enhanced. These include adding new field turf to Aldrich Field, building a high-quality, industrial kitchen, and starting the federally funded student lunch program, adding new bleachers to the practice gym and a new softball practice field, renovating the chemistry labs, and improving the locker rooms, wrestling room and weight room. Much needed parking replaced the Clark Jeary building, and Pius X replaced the old gym roof and added air conditioning to the gym. Pius X also completed kitchen and bathrooms renovations. In the summer of 2019, the Monsignor James D. Dawson Learning Center and the Monsignor Ivan F. Vap Industrial Arts Center added 22,000 square feet to substantially expand Pius X High School. With his skillful stewardship of the school’s finances, together with the Pius X Foundation Board of Directors and the Advancement Office, the Foundation endowment also tripled, growing from $5.6M as of June 30, 20062007, to reach more than $19M by June 30, 2021. After the last Pius X campaign in 2006, Fr. Meysenburg tirelessly advocated for the next campaign to address essential facilities needs. As we launch the Forward in Faith and Excellence Campaign, Fr. Meysenburg is serving as a member of the steering committee to continue his passion for enhancing Pius X High School for future generations.
