Feb 22, 2024 | Bishop Lucia
Bishop Douglas J. Lucia The Catholic Sun bi-weekly column (2-15-2024) “Through the Desert God Leads us to Freedom.” This is the theme of the message of His Holiness Pope Francis for Lent 2024. The Holy Father writes: “Lent is the season of grace in which the desert...
Feb 8, 2024 | Bishop Lucia
Honoring those called to consecrated life. Bishop Douglas J. Lucia The Catholic Sun bi-weekly column In 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of...
Dec 21, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
Carrying the Light of Christ A special preview of Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s New Year’s Catholic Sun column “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” With these words of the poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, I begin my first column of...
Dec 21, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go …” These words came to my mind as I began to write this column for the Catholic Sun edition that will be published on the Thursday before Christmas. As I reacquainted myself with the lyrics of this...
Dec 7, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
Dear Readers: As we begin a new year of grace in the life of the Church … a year in which we will focus on the Gospel of Mark and the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John (“The Bread of Life” discourses) … I thought I would share with you my homily for Nov. 26, Christ...
Nov 23, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
Editor’s note: This is Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nov. 5, 2023. The Living Word 1 I have decided to follow Jesus; I have decided to follow Jesus; I have decided to follow Jesus; no turning back, no turning back. 2 Though...
Nov 9, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
As I prepare this column, it is snowing out! A reminder to me that the change of seasons is real; and each season has its own beauty. As we observe during this first full week of November, National Vocation Awareness Week (Nov. 5 – 11), it is an appropriate occasion...
Oct 26, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
“Eschatology” — a Greek word that is defined as “the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.” As we fast approach the month of November and the final weeks of the Church’s liturgical year, both in its...
Oct 12, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
This month we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Respect Life in the Dioceses of the United States. As stated on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): “Every October, we consider more deeply why every human life is valuable and...
Sep 14, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
Editor’s note: This is Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s homily from the annual Back to School Mass on Aug. 31 at Holy Cross Church for teachers and staff from all diocesan schools. So, I have been reflecting on something and the idea is simply this: “How do you and I help...
Aug 25, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
Young people from throughout the world are returning home after experiencing World Youth Day 2023 (WYD) in Lisbon, Portugal. The theme for this year’s event comes from the very end of the Annunciation account in Luke 1:26-39 — “Mary arose and went in haste” (1:39)....
Jul 20, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
As I gaze out my window I see sunshine, blue sky and a summer breeze moving the leaves on the trees. For me, it is an idyllic scene. Nonetheless, both in person and in the media I have encountered dramatic images coming from areas north and east of the Syracuse metro...
Jul 5, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
On June 20, 2023, the Holy See’s General Secretariat of the Synod issued the Instrumentum Laboris (IL) for the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held this October. It’s titled, “2021-2024 Synod: For a Synodal Church:...
Jun 21, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
Editor’s note: This is Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s homily for the priesthood ordination of James Vincent Buttner on June 3, 2023. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news …” (Is. 61:1). Dear...
Jun 7, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
This past Saturday, May 27th, was the fourth anniversary of the phone call that literally changed my life and I found out that Pope Francis had named me the Eleventh Bishop of Syracuse. A lot has happened since that phone call, but one thing I realize more than ever...
May 24, 2023 | Bishop Lucia, Bishop Lucia 1
Editor’s note: Here is Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s homily for the Religious Jubilee at the Vigil of the Ascension on May 17. Dear Jubilarians … Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, What a joy it is for the Church of Syracuse to gather this afternoon in this sacred space...
Apr 12, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
Editor’s note: This is Bishop Lucia’s homily from the Chrism Mass celebrated on Tuesday, April 4, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass is held annually on Tuesday of Holy Week. Sacramental oils for use in parishes for the coming year are blessed and...
Mar 13, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
Many of us do not remember what we were doing on a certain day ten years ago or for that matter even a year ago. Let’s face it, I might not even recall what I had for lunch yesterday! In fact, in my daily phone call to my Dad last night I had to stop and think what I...
Feb 28, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
We are now one full week into our Lenten journey and have already entered the third month of the calendar year — the month of March. This month will be one that is fully dedicated to the Lenten season. On its Sundays, you and I will find ourselves not only on Mount...
Feb 13, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
In my last column, I noted that the holy season of Lent would soon be upon us and now we are just six days away from Ash Wednesday and the Church’s 40 days of preparation leading up to the Easter feast and the Christian world’s celebration of the Resurrection of the...
Jan 31, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
As I sit down to write my next column for The Catholic Sun, it happens to be the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, bishop & doctor of the Church, as well as the patron saint of authors, journalists, writers and deafness. I find the last patronage interesting...
Jan 6, 2023 | Bishop Lucia
This first column of 2023 finds us still in the midst of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Besides counting off time between Christmas and the Epiphany of the Lord (also known as Little Christmas), the Twelve Days of Christmas is for many of us a seemingly fun Christmas...
Dec 21, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
(Editor’s note: this is Bishop Lucia’s homily for Christmas Day, 2022) “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (Jn 1:14) “What’s the good word? Can you give, or do you have any words to live by?” I am sure over the years you and I have had these...
Nov 22, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
As this edition of the Catholic Sun arrives in your homes, we are preparing for our national feast of Thanksgiving. It will be followed closely by the start of the holy season of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year. In this moment, I often think of the...
Nov 7, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
In my last column, I spoke of the “universal call to holiness” and said that God has a plan for your life and my life. This plan mirrors the plan of the Son of God become Son of Man whose mission is to lead people back to God through the proclamation of the Good News...
Oct 26, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
Last week, it was a privilege for me to be at Maryknoll and accompany the brothers and priests who live there in reflecting on the theme, “A Living Gospel for All People to Hear.” To walk the hallowed grounds of a place I had seen pictures of since my boyhood, to...
Oct 12, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
This week we continue our reflection on the Nicene Creed and come to its pivotal tenet for Christian believers — “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.” In Light from Light: A Theological Reflection on...
Sep 14, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
“I believe in one God …” This week we continue our exploration of the Nicene Creed which, along with the Apostles’ Creed, we use in our Eucharistic celebrations on Sundays and Solemnities. After the initial profession of “I believe,” the Creed goes on to list those...
Sep 2, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
This past Friday afternoon, I was returning to the North Country for a family funeral when I went by a small country church that is familiar to me. On its sign it had the following verse: “If God seems distant in your life – who moved?” I have been pondering that...
Aug 17, 2022 | Bishop Lucia
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Bishop Douglas J. Lucia’s homily from Sunday, August 7; Bishop has received requests to print this as part of his anniversary observance. “The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that … they might have courage.” (Wisdom...
