SYRACUSE – Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. Bishop-elect Douglas John Lucia, 56, of the Diocese of Ogdensburg will become the 11th bishop of Syracuse, succeeding Bishop Robert J. Cunningham who has served the diocese since May 26, 2009. Bishop-elect Lucia will be ordained and installed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception located in downtown Syracuse at a date soon to be determined.

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

Bishop-elect Lucia was born on March 17, 1963, the son of Leward and Betty (Pepin) Lucia in Plattsburgh, N.Y. He and his twin brother and their sister and younger brother grew up in Altona, N.Y. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Wadhams Hall Seminary College in Ogdensburg, N.Y., in May 1985 and a Masters in Divinity from Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora N.Y. in May 1989. He was ordained to the Ministerial Priesthood at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg on May 20, 1989, by Most Reverend Stanislaus J. Brzana, DD, STD, Bishop of Ogdensburg.

In his first assignment, Bishop-elect Lucia served as parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s Church in Watertown, N.Y. In 1990, he was sent to the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, Ontario, Canada for two years of service where he was parochial vicar at St. Columban’s Church in Cornwall. Upon returning to the Diocese of Ogdensburg, the bishop-elect became the parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist Church in Plattsburgh, N.Y. for three years. He was then assigned as a parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg. He became the associate secretary of the Matrimonial Tribunal in 1996.

From 1997 to 1999, the bishop-elect was assigned to study canon law at the Pontifical University at St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. During the summer of 1998, he served as a parochial vicar of Holy Family Church in Watertown and worked part time for the Diocesan Tribunal Office.

Upon the completion of his studies in June 1999, Bishop-elect Lucia was named adjutant judicial vicar and vice chancellor. He also served as administrator at St. Raphael’s in Heuvelton and as a part - time chaplain at the Gouverneur Correctional Facility.