Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse to replace retiring Bishop Robert J. Cunningham.

The diocese announced Tuesday morning that Bishop-elect Douglas John Lucia, 56, of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, will become the 11th bishop of Syracuse. He will be ordained and installed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Syracuse at a date soon to be determined.

Bishop Cunningham, who has served the diocese since 2009, submitted his resignation to the Holy Father on his 75th birthday on June 18, 2018, as is required by canon law. He will continue to serve as the Apostolic Administrator until Lucia’s ordination and installation.

At his introduction during a press conference Tuesday, Lucia talked about family, his path to priesthood, and even how he has a Facebook page.

"That's what I sort of want to see it as, being able to reach out to people that they have access," Lucia said. "I guess that's my big thing, that people have access to the church.  They don't see it as closed, that the doors are open."

 

 

Lucia was born in Plattsburgh. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Wadhams Hall Seminary College in Ogdensburg in May 1985 and a Masters in Divinity from Christ the King Seminary in May 1989.  He was ordained to the Ministerial Priesthood at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg on May 20, 1989.

He has served at St. Patrick’s Church in Watertown, the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall in Canada and then returned to Odgensburg, among other places.

As bishop of Syracuse, Lucia will be the spiritual leader for more than 220,000 Catholics in the seven counties covered by the diocese.