This huge jurisdiction contained the present-day states of Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

[1] During the American Civil War, Irish Catholic workers started immigrating to Nebraska to aid in the transportation of goods and to later build the Union Pacific railroad.

[7] In 1888, Bonacum sued Patrick Egan, a prominent Lincoln citizen, for failing to pay a money pledge for St. Teresa's Pro-Cathedral.

In 1896, an ecclesiastical court of the Archdiocese of Dubuque reversed Bonacum's decision and ordered him to pay a fine as well as Murphy's legal fees.

By the time of Bonacum's death in 1911, there was a Catholic population of 37,000 with 84 priests, 135 churches and 65 with resident pastors, and 28 parochial schools.

[16] Early into his tenure at Lincoln, O'Reilly had to contend with the 1918 influenza pandemic, which claimed the lives of many priests and religious sisters.

[17] After O'Reilly died in 1923, Pope Pius XI named Reverend Francis Beckman of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as his replacement.

[22] The Southern Nebraska Register declared that Casey "accomplished more for the Diocese of Lincoln in 10 years than any other comparable period in our history.

"[21] Casey was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Denver in 1967; Pope Paul VI then named Auxiliary Bishop Glennon Flavin of St. Louis to replace him in Lincoln.

[23] In 1981, Flavin prohibited women from serving as lectors during Mass; in response, Archbishop Rembert Weakland called his actions "a step backward and offensive.

To replace Flavin, Pope John Paul II selected Monsignor Fabian Bruskewitz of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1992.

[28] In 2006, Bruskewitz rejected the proposed undertaking of an audit by the National Review Board of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

[32] In early 2019, Conley reiterated diocesan policy of only allowing male altar servers, making it one of two dioceses in the country with that restriction.

[35] In December 2019, Conley announced that he was taking a medical leave of absence to treat depression, anxiety, insomnia, and tinnitus.

In April 2019, Archbishop Lucas released an investigative report on Monsignor Leonard Kalin, chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1970 to 1998.

[37] In 2021, the Nebraska Attorney General report on sexual abuse by priests in Nebraska highlighted several instances in which Bishop Bruskewitz failed to follow canon law in handling allegations in the Diocese of Lincoln: In October 2021, the diocese published a list of diocesan clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.

He attributed sexual abuse by his priests to "homosexual perversion" and the consequences of society rejecting traditional Catholic teaching about marriage and birth control.