Pictured: Bishop Douglas Lucia and Advisory Board Chair Darren Woods at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen.

Bishop Lucia visits Mother Marianne’s soup kitchen

Story and photos by Robert Stronach, OFS, contributing writer

UTICA — The aroma of cooking was the first thing Syracuse Bishop Douglas J. Lucia noticed.

“Oh, that smells good!”

The bishop decided to stop in at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen and Boutique on Oct. 7, two weeks before the canonization anniversary day of the soup kitchen’s namesake (St. Marianne Cope). He was between official visits to Notre Dame Junior/Senior High School and Historic Old St. John’s Church. 

Parish Trustee Karl Schmidt had met Bishop outside and escorted him into the soup kitchen. He then introduced Darren Woods, who chairs the operation’s advisory board. 

‘It feels like coming home’

St. Michael’s parish celebrates its 150-year history

By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor

In 1873, the population of Syracuse was only about 24,000 people. Ulysses S. Grant was president of the United States. Pope Pius IX was in the 27th year of what would become a 32-year reign, longest of any Pontiff. The Diocese of Syracuse, well, that was not yet a thing.

But it was the year that the first Catholic Mass was celebrated on Onondaga Hill. One year later, Father John J. Kennedy purchased the home of Mrs. Sophia Peck and converted it into a church. Located on the corner of Seneca Turnpike and West Avenue (you know it now as Velasko Road), it served a growing congregation until 1949 when a new building was constructed.

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Welcome to SunSpeak…

Each Digital Update from the Catholic Sun features…

• A timely column from Bishop Douglas J. Lucia.

• Ordinary Time” with Lucia Silechia, (the “Lucia” theme is purely concidental).

From time to time we will feature other columns of note. Let us know if you like the service we are providing; email us at [email protected].

Bishop reflects on the Red Mass

Editor’s note: This is the Bishop’s homily shared at the annual Red Mass held this year on Monday, September 30. Dating back to 13th Century France, the Red Mass is celebrated before the beginning of a new judicial term. In the United States, that is traditionally the first Monday in October.

The Source of Law and its Practice at this noon hour, it is again a privilege for me to welcome members of the judiciary, the legal profession, the courts system and civic government to this house of worship as we gather for this time of prayer inaugurating the judicial year. We do so on the Memorial of St. Jerome who is characterized in one book on the lives of the saints as “[a] strong, outspoken man. 

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Dressing Up for Ordinary Time

By Lucia A. Silecchia

​For better or worse, my childhood days were lived before the age of the digital camera. So, I have shelves full of photo albums that tell the stories of my life. As is likely the case for many, Halloween photographs are plentiful.

While Halloween had not yet morphed into the mega-holiday it is now, I took my Halloween costumes very seriously. There were the challenges of picking a character, brainstorming the costume that would bring that character to life, and then making that costume in a way that would somehow marry an imagination that was fairly good with crafting and sewing skills that were decidedly bad. Luckily, my mom — who was both talented and patient — took a lead role in the costume production!