Stephen Lucas, O.P., Death, 2021-09-19

Series

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection contains personal materials relating to friars after they have left the order, passed away, or transferred to another province. Each friar's file contents are mostly contain to their novitiate records, canonical assignments, historically important correspondence, and a small number of personal items if desired upon their passing. Within the broader collection, each Friar is sorted as a series.

Friars with particuarly substantial historically important papers or items outside of the scope of the Personal Files Collection are moved to a dedicated collection under their name.

This collection is a work in progress and any use of these files requires the explicit permission of the Provincial. Contact the Archivist to discuss access or inquire about friars that may not been cataloged yet.

Dates

Other: Death, 2021-09-19

Conditions Governing Access

Requires explicit permission from Provincial to access any records. Contact the Archivist for more information.

For comprehensive lists and records of individuals who left the order or transferred to other provinces, researchers must contact the archivist. Access to such materials may be restricted and is subject to privacy considerations and organizational policy.

Obituary

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Brother Stephen Lucas passed away on July 7, 2021, at Resurrection Village Life Center in Chicago. He was 89 years old. Brother Stephen was born Donald Floyd Lucas in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Walter and Marcella Lucas. He is survived by his sister, Virginia (Norm) Chester, of Fort Meyers Beach, Florida.

Brother Stephen entered the Dominican Order in 1953, and after two years each in Dubuque, Chicago, and Albuquerque, he was assigned to the missions in Nigeria. Br. Stephen was sad to be leaving Albuquerque, an assignment which he loved; however, his love of Albuquerque did not impede his commitment to missionary work. He spent 57 years helping grow the Church in that country, all of them at St. Dominic’s Church in Yaba, Lagos, where he soon established the St. Jude Apostolate, a national prayer fellowship. Described as a silent worker, he went on to build clinics for the poor in various locations around the Lagos metropolitan area in addition to a primary and secondary school near the international airport and a large bookstore on the church property in Yaba. He was instrumental in opening Catholic churches in Makoko and Tarkwa Bay. Besides his human skills of gentleness and compassion, he was an early and an energetic fund raiser of the Dominican formation program for young West African friars in Ibadan, Nigeria. He returned to the U.S. in 2016.

The funeral for Brother Stephen will be on July 13, 2021, at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1530 Jackson Ave., River Forest, Illinois beginning with the reception of the body at the Church and Morning Prayer at 8:45 a.m., followed by the Mass of the Resurrection at 10:00 a.m. and will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person. A luncheon in Kyte Hall will immediately follow the service after which burial will take place at All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.