Saint Barnabas is both a new Catholic parish and a very old community with a history stretching back to 1869 when it was founded as a parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America. It came to be as an offshoot of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral under the leadership of its former dean, the Very Rev. George C. Betts. The parish was officially chartered on May 3, 1869. The first church building was a small wooden structure at a location near present-day 9th and Douglas Streets. After this building was destroyed by a tornado, a second edifice was erected at 19th and California Streets. This building served the parish for the next 44 years. In 1915, under the leadership of the Rev. Lloyd B. Holsapple, the current property was purchased for the sum of $7,000. The architect for the new building was Charles M. Nye, who patterned the church after English Herefordshire architecture.

Saint Barnabas was founded as an "Oxford Movement" parish. The Oxford Movement was a 19th century effort to rediscover the ancient Catholic roots in the life of the Anglican Church and which called the Church back to fidelity to the call of Christ to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, care for the widows and orphans. Adherents of the Oxford Movement came to be known as Anglo-Catholics.

Saint Barnabas continued in the Anglo-Catholic tradition centering its mission around the worship of Almighty God and the service of His people, especially the poor. High Mass, celebrated with traditional music and ceremonial, was offered each Sunday, and Low Mass throughout the week. Evensong and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament were held monthly. Liturgies at Saint Barnabas used the traditional language of the historic Book of Common Prayer with supplemental material from the American Missal and the Anglican Service Book.

In July 2013, the clergy and people of Saint Barnabas were received into the Roman Catholic Church as a congregation of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. Father Robert Scheiblhofer, the 15th Rector of the parish, was ordained a Catholic priest shortly thereafter, and he continued to serve Saint Barnabas as parochial administrator. On January 1, 2017, he was succeeded by Father Jason Catania. On November 5, 2017, Saint Barnabas was the first Ordinariate church building to be formally consecrated by Bishop Steven J. Lopes. The bishop returned to Omaha on June 10, 2018 to canonically erect St. Barnabas as a Catholic parish, and to install Father Catania as its first pastor. On July 1, 2021, Father Stephen Hilgendorf was assigned by Bishop Lopes as the Parochial Administator. He is the third Catholic priest to serve the parish, and was installed as its second Pastor on September 18, 2022.

The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is equivalent to a diocese, created by the Vatican in 2012 for people nurtured in the Anglican tradition who wish to become Catholic.

Parishes and communities in the Ordinariates are fully Roman Catholic, but retain elements of Anglican traditions in their liturgy, hospitality and ministries.

Called to be gracious instruments of Christian unity, members of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter are led by a bishop who is appointed by the Pope. Bishop Steven J. Lopes is the first bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. 

• Founded to serve Roman Catholics across the U.S. and Canada, it is the first diocese of its kind in North America.
• Based in Houston, Texas, this Ordinariate has more than 40 Roman Catholic parishes and communities across the United States and Canada.
• The Ordinariate was created to provide a path for groups of Anglicans to become fully Roman Catholic, while retaining elements of their worship traditions and spiritual heritage in their union with the Catholic Church. The Ordinariate is a key ecumenical venture exemplifying the Second Vatican Council’s vision for Christian unity, in which diverse expressions of one faith are joined together in the Church.  
• The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter was established in response to repeated and persistent inquiries from Anglicans who over time, have come to identify the Catholic Church as their home. Those joining the Ordinariate have discerned they are truly Catholic in what they believe and desire full membership in the Catholic Church.
• There are three Personal Ordinariates in the world: Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom; the Chair of Saint Peter in the United States and Canada; and Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia.
• In the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis redintegatio), the Catholic Church specified what it would look like to bring all Christians together into communion. The Council said Christian groups would bring their own distinctive traditions to the Catholic Church; they would not be suppressed or absorbed. The Vatican’s remarkable ecumenical gesture in establishing the Ordinariates affirms the Catholic Church’s view that the patrimony of differing Christian spiritualities and liturgies is a treasure meant to be shared within the Catholic tradition. 
• Like other bishops in the United States and Canada, the bishop serves under the direct authority of the Pope to build up the Catholic Church through mutual mission and ministry.
• The bishop is a full member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

What is Divine Worship: the Missal?

• Divine Worship is the liturgical provision for the celebration of Mass and the Sacraments for use by the Personal Ordinariates established under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus. As such, it gives expression to and preserves for Catholic worship the worthy Anglican liturgical patrimony, understood as that which has nourished the Catholic faith throughout the history of the Anglican tradition and prompted aspirations towards ecclesial unity.

• Yes. Ordinariate parishes and communities are part of the Roman Catholic Church. Any Catholic may licitly attend Mass in an Ordinariate parish.

• The liturgical texts found in Divine Worship are in English, but an idiom of English best described as “Prayer Book English.” Insofar as Divine Worship respects received texts in their integrity, variations of idiom and linguistic register have been harmonized so that the texts chosen are broadly representative of the classic Prayer Book tradition while also attempting to avoid undue preference for wordings distinctive to any particular country. The texts provide for a certain adaptability to local custom such as, for example, using “Holy Ghost” interchangeably with “Holy Spirit” throughout the celebration of Mass.

• Yes. The readings follow the Year A/B/C cycle for Sundays, and the Year I/II cycle for weekdays. The scriptural readings at Mass are taken from the Lectionary in the Revised Standard Version (Second Catholic Edition)

• Yes. The notable difference between Divine Worship and the Roman Missal is that Divine Worship does not include a period called Ordinary Time. The period between the celebration of the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday is called Time After Epiphany (Epiphanytide) and Pre-Lent. Pre-Lent begins with the third Sunday before Lent, or Septuagesima. After Eastertide, the Sundays of the Year are collectively known as Trinitytide, beginning with Trinity Sunday and being numbered as Sundays After Trinity until the celebration of Christ the King. The liturgical time of Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter are celebrated in common throughout the Church. The Divine Worship Missal also includes the celebration of the Ember Days in Advent, Lent, in Whitsun Week (Pentecost), and in September. Similarly, the Rogation Days, traditionally marked by processions and prayers for Divine assistance, are observed on the three days preceding the Ascension of the Lord.