Syracuse bishop orders retirement of progressive priest whose parish hosted AOC campaign event

Bishop Douglas Lucia of Syracuse, New York, has announced the retirement of Father Frederick "Fred" Daley, the longtime pastor of All Saints Church, a parish that has become a center of progressive Catholic activism and repeatedly clashed with diocesan authorities over Catholic teaching, liturgical practices and partisan political activities.

The decision, announced in a diocesan pastoral reorganization plan dated Nov. 5, comes barely five weeks after Daley's parish hosted New York’s Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a political campaign event, in direct violation of diocesan regulations prohibiting partisan political activities on Church property.

>> AOC takes pot-shot at conservatives during stop at Catholic parish in New York <<

According to the bishop's announcement, Daley will be replaced Jan. 2, 2027, by Father John Manno, who will become pastor of both All Saints and neighboring St. Lucy's Parish. Father James Mathews, the longtime pastor of St. Lucy's, will also retire.

Although the diocese officially presented the changes as part of a broader restructuring prompted by declining Catholic populations and a shortage of priests, Daley's departure follows an escalating series of confrontations with Bishop Lucia over practices at All Saints that diocesan authorities have explicitly identified as contrary to Catholic teaching or canon law.

One of the most controversial incidents took place Sept. 28, when All Saints hosted Ocasio-Cortez for an event connected to her "Project Reactivation" campaign, an effort to mobilize Democratic voters ahead of the November midterm elections.

During her appearance, the New York congresswoman, an outspoken supporter of legalized abortion and LGBT causes, denounced conservative political messaging and called for mobilization in support of Democratic candidates, as Zeale News previously reported.

The event, attended by approximately 200 people, included other Democratic political figures and was held inside the Catholic parish despite the Church's restrictions on partisan political campaigning.

Following the controversy, the Diocese of Syracuse issued an explicit public rebuke on Oct. 5, declaring that Bishop Lucia had neither authorized nor been informed of the event beforehand.

"Partisan political events are strictly prohibited in any diocesan parish, office, or school," the diocese stated.

"Furthermore, politicians who advocate policies contrary to Church teaching on fundamental moral issues, such as abortion, are not permitted to speak in diocesan or parish facilities."

The diocesan statement left little ambiguity about the seriousness of the violation.

In an earlier response to Zeale News, diocesan Chancellor Danielle Cummings confirmed that All Saints had not requested permission to host Ocasio-Cortez and that the bishop also objected to material published on the parish's website.

"All Saints parish did not seek permission from the Bishop to hold such an event. [N]or does the Bishop condone the items on their website that are against Catholic teaching," Cummings told Zeale News Oct. 2. “Bishop Lucia is addressing this issue with the pastor and the pastoral team."

The Ocasio-Cortez controversy, however, was only the latest confrontation involving Daley, who has served as pastor of All Saints since 2008 and has openly identified himself as gay since 2004.

Under his leadership, the parish has promoted an explicitly progressive approach to Catholicism, particularly concerning homosexuality, transgender ideology, and the Church's traditional teachings on human sexuality.

All Saints has developed extensive LGBT activism, including a “transgender” family support group, and has publicly opposed the establishment of a diocesan chapter of Courage International, the Catholic apostolate that assists men and women experiencing same-sex attraction in living chastely according to Church teaching.

The parish also attracted national attention in June 2025 for displaying a rainbow Pride flag and celebrating LGBT Pride Month during parish liturgies.

The controversies prompted Bishop Lucia to intervene personally. In a July 2025 parish bulletin, All Saints acknowledged that the bishop had ordered four specific corrections to its liturgical practices, citing universal canon law.

These included abandoning unauthorized liturgical prayers in favor of the approved Roman Missal’s text, discontinuing the use of an unofficial Scripture translation produced by an LGBT activist group called “Priests for Equality,” complying with canonical restrictions on laypersons delivering homilies during Mass, and removing political or ideological banners and flags from parish liturgical settings.

The admission was particularly significant because canon law reserves the homily during Mass to a priest or deacon, and Catholic parishes are not free to substitute their own liturgical texts for those approved by the Church.

Although the All Saints leadership acknowledged that it was complying with the bishop's directives, it also declared that it did not consider itself obliged to abandon its distinctive pastoral identity.

Bishop Lucia's Nov. 5 letter did not explicitly connect Daley's retirement to the controversies surrounding All Saints. Instead, the bishop emphasized the need to consolidate parish leadership as the diocese confronts a dramatic decline in active clergy and Catholic participation.

According to the bishop, the number of Catholics in the Diocese of Syracuse has fallen by 50% since 1970, while the number of priests has declined by 65%.

The announcement also indicates that All Saints and St. Lucy's will continue cooperating on a joint pastoral initiative known as the Costello Project, focused on serving the poor.