St. Mary’s Parish in Davey, Nebraska is situated within the Diocese of Lincoln. The parish traces its history to the Irish settlers who came to this area in the 1860’s and 1870s. The first Mass in Rock Creek Precinct of Lancaster County was celebrated in 1871. The original church, St. Patrick’s was on 40th and Agnew Road. This land was purchased from Patrick McGeer for a church and a cemetary. The church was built and dedicated in 1878. The priests of Lincoln cared for the Irish Catholics of St. Patrick’s until 1887 when Rev. William Murphy became the first resident pastor. In 1886, the railroad had come through the territory and the town of Davey was established and named after one of the original settlers, Mike Davey. A group of “South Irish” started a movement to relocate the church into Davey as a more centralized location. They purchased the Methodist church in Davey in 1901. In 1919, the original wooden church of St. Mary’s, Davey was destroyed by a fire. The present brick church was built on the same location and dedicated in 1923. It still stands today due to much hard work by the parishioners and the priests who kept it up and remodeled it. The parish cemetery is still located at the original site of 40th and Agnew Road.

St. Mary’s encompassess families from Northern Lancaster county and southern Saunders County. A new rectory was built across the street from the church in place of the original one with work being completed in April, 1998. The upstairs serves as the pastor’s living quarters and office space and basement is used for Parish activities. As families continue to move out to the rural areas outside of Lincoln, the parish continues to grow.

In 2020 we celebrated our 150th anniversary of our parish, due to Covid our celebration was moved to August of 2021.