The Lewisburg Peace Vigil after the ICE Shooting

I attending the Lewisburg Peace Vigil after the Minneapolis ICE Shooting on January 9th, 2026. I got the chance to speak there and it was received well, and I wrote about it on Facebook and it seemed to be meaningful to folks there too. Here’s a link: https://www.facebook.com/lucas.southerton/posts/pfbid02Hya7cVAV12Zd7zZCY2U2cMntEhQBzw5DpVTTV5aGVETKzyWrCs2pHP5mKMhDjrDxl

And here’s what I wrote that also shares about the event:

I showed up at the Lewisburg Peace Vigil today after two nights of prayer and discernment over how I should respond to the latest events in the news. Like many of you, I’m very concerned about the state of our nation and all the unrest, and I want to see change, and I want to do something about it, but I also want to wait on the Lord and put my trust in him over any sort of political force. I knew this rally would be mostly “blue,” and I was sure I wouldn’t agree with perhaps a majority of the people there on many political issues, and yet I felt like God wanted me to be there in solidarity with them in this time of grief and concern.

When I walked up to the group, a woman with a microphone was talking about immigration reform and the work her local agency does to help those who are trying to navigate the legal process and create a new life in a new country. Shortly after, I bumped into a former school teacher and a good friend of my parents. We gave each other a big hug and listened to the other speakers on the itinerary. And then they opened the mic up to anybody.

I came with a cross and other Christian signage, and looking around, it could have seemed like I was out of place. I told my friend I was thinking of speaking, and with her encouragement, I went to the front and stood in line for the mic.

When it was my turn, I walked up the stairs with my gear and said something like this: “My name is Lucas Southerton, and I’m a shop teacher in Mifflinburg, and I live in Millmont. In some ways, I’m a bit of a redneck, and I’m sure I don’t agree with many of you on lots of political issues. But I want to live in a country where people can believe different things, and we can still treat each other with honor and respect. Many of our political leaders aren’t doing that. I’m a Christian, and it really grieves me that some of our leaders talk and act the way they do, and they do it in the name of Christ. I love you folks. Thank you for being here today and letting me speak.”

People gave me a very sincere round of applause, and I felt honored and respected, and lots of people afterward thanked me for my remarks. Another person told me, “too often, we approach these issues with an us vs. them attitude, but it’s just us. We’re in this together.”

Spring 2025 Newsletter. My first one!

3/26/2025

Hello Friends!

Happy Spring! I’m excited to be sending out my first newsletter. Thank you so much for signing up 🙂

I’m looking at this as social media without using social media. I really appreciate that you’re interested in what’s going on in my life and I want to know what’s going on in your life too. Please feel free to write back. 

I’ll plan to break these newsletters into three categories: Projects, Evangelization, and Family. I’ll keep things brief but include links in case you would like to read more. 

Projects

As you may already know, I’ve had a book in the works for a decade, but I’m in the final steps. It’s a memoir of my faith journey through adolescence and young manhood and reflects on the human condition, salvation history, and many of the complicated issues that young people wrestle with including relationships and issues of sexuality. The manuscript is currently being reviewed for an Imprimatur, which is the official declaration from a Catholic bishop that the book is free from doctrinal errors and suitable to print. I have some original artwork for the cover and I’m currently working with a book designer for the text and layout. I hope my summer newsletter will have information regarding a launch day. I’m trying to do all this as “official” as I can, hence creating a mailing list, using a professional email, creating a website, etc. I want this book (and my life) to be a blessing to others, and sometimes more official means of communication can be effective. 

On the hands-on building end of things, I’ve recently finished up a commissioned project for a friend. It’s a cabinet with electronics for displaying roller signs from an old tour bus. 

Evangelization Efforts

I try to get out for street evangelization once a month. It didn’t happen in January, but we had a really wonderful time at Bucknell University in February. 

This past Sunday, I preached a sermon! I’m friends with a local evangelical pastor who preaches once a month at a nursing home in Selinsgrove, and he couldn’t make it and asked if I would do something in his place. It was a lovely experience and I look forward to doing more. 

I have plans for Street Evangelization this Friday. Please say a prayer for us and those we encounter! 

Family

It’s been a fun winter with the family but we’re glad it’s spring! We got the girls out skating a few times and a highlight was a trip to Eagles Mere for the toboggan run. But now that the weather is nicer, we’re spending a lot more time in the yard and riding bikes together. 

Looking ahead, we signed Clara up for a baseball league for children with special needs and are really looking forward to it! She’s never been part of a sports team before. We also plan to get baby chickens one of these days, and come May, we’re going to start up Ultimate Frisbee on the Millmont Village Green.

God bless you all and thanks for reading!

Peace of Christ, 

Lucas

Parish Council Meeting and Bucknell Evangelization, Oct. 2025

I had plans to make coin rings at Bucknell on October 2nd, and then I learned that there was a parish council meeting that same night and they were inviting parishioners to come to the meeting and sign up to speak. I’ve long wanted my street evangelization to be more of a parish initiative rather that just a guy with his friends, and so I went there with a friend and we pitched the idea. The parish council and my pastor all seemed excited about the idea but unsure how to make it happen, but they gave me their blessing to try to expand the ministry and evangelize in the name of the parish. At their suggestion, I will also find a time to speak after each of the Masses, and I’ll also have a booth outside where people can see the ministry in action. (I still need to do this.) It was very exciting! We left the meeting after our part was over and made our way to Bucknell where I was met by two more friends who traveled from Bloomsburg. We had the best parking spot on campus and made many rings and had several wonderful conversations with students, several of whom were Catholic and seemed to really be passionate about their faith. It was an encouraging evening!

Evangelizing at the Airport, November 2025

I traveled solo to my cousin’s wedding in Myrtle Beach–what a beautiful time! They’re a wonderful couple and witnessing their love was such an honor and blessing. I had a 3 hour layover on the way back and passed out 46 prayer cards, which resulted in several wonderful conversations and opportunities to pray with people. I have such a blessed life and being more open about my faith and sharing it with others has made it all the more interesting and fun. I don’t think anything else could have resulted in a more meaningful and enjoyable layover.

Diversity Fest, August 2025

August 16th was Diversity Fest in downtown Lewisburg. I came as a vendor cooking burritos on the back of my truck. In my registration paperwork, I also made it clear that I was planning to share my love the Lord and the Catholic Church. The organization sponsoring Diversity Fest advertised that they seek to uphold the dignity and value of all people—particularly the traditionally marginalized, including LGBTQ folk. This is 100% in line with Catholic social teaching and my own personal missionary heart, but I didn’t want to give the impression that I supported everything that is sometimes associated LGBTQ pride, and so in preparation for the event, I made more signs reading: “I believe all that the Catholic Church maintains as truth. . . I promise to honor, respect, and learn from those who believe differently. . . Tell us about your spiritual journey. You and your story matter. God loves you.” I also had statues and other visibly Catholic imagery. It was a great time! Many of my friends joined me including a deacon from my Church and my dad and uncle. I also had a few of my students stop by and hang out with me by the truck, including some who identify as LGBTQ. A local woman and friend of mine who is a secular humanist expressed how much she appreciated my desire to spread love, and gave me a big hug. (She took the picture below.) Differences in belief never game up, but I think there was tremendous value in just being together in love and solidarity as a human family, and witnessing to the fact that people can be different and passionate about their beliefs and still love and care for one another.

My thoughts on reviling and the current political climate

This is not an easy post. I’m not usually the warning-of-hell kind of guy. But I need to talk to my fellow Christians about a serious sin that many of us have fallen into.

In the Bible, in his letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul writes, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But rather I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater, REVILER, drunkard, or robber–not even to eat with such a one.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)

We need to talk about the sin of reviling. This is a serious sin. Later in the same letter, St. Paul tells us that revilers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. (6:10)

The Greek word translated as reviler is “loidoros.” It’s a person who speaks abusively or contemptuously about others, putting them down, belittling them, or insulting them.

In Matthew 5:22, Jesus tells us that even those who say, “you fool” will be liable to the fires of hell.

My friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re not even supposed to associate with Christians who speak this way about others, and yet, that’s what many of us have become, and I think we’ve become that way because we associate with such people. This seems to be especially true in the realm of politics.

There’s no denying that President Trump speaks contemptuously about others, especially his political adversaries. Here’s a man who claims to be a Christian, but he is a reviler, and probably worse. As Christians, we should not even associate with the man, let alone celebrate him. And those of you who have celebrated him, I’ve seen it, you’ve often become revilers too.

My Christian brothers and sisters on the left—too often, you’ve let your hearts be filled with contempt for Donald Trump, and when you speak of him or his political allies, you also become a reviler.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44) Whether you revile left or right, I love you, and I want you to get to heaven, but according to scriptures, you won’t if you don’t repent.

I’m by no means perfect. I’m guilty. I’ve associated with revelers, and before I know it, I’ve found myself saying things like, “Gosh what an idiot.” That’s not how God wants us to talk. But I’ve repented, I’ve confessed, and I’m living with a firm resolution to do better, and I charge you, by God’s grace, to repent with me.

Saint Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Put off the old man…be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…be angry but do not sin. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good and edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in which you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 4:22,23-24, 26,29-32, Ch. 5:1-2)

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Painting a Crucifix

This November, I had the honor and privilege of refurbishing and painting a crucifix for a friend on commission. It was about 7 hours or prayerful work over two weeks that might have otherwise been spent scrolling on my phone after the girls were put to bed.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our technology lately and advancements in AI, and how it’s shaping us as individuals and as a society. As far as I know, generative AI that can paint statues is not yet invented or accessible to the masses. And so I’m lucky that my skills still have a practical application. But then again, maybe practically isn’t the right approach. Maybe I should keep painting because it’s fun, or because it shapes me into a more thoughtful, meditative, and prayerful kind of guy—a guy who exercises the mind and body and skills that God has given me. A statue, a paintbrush, and a Facebook post are all technologies that I think can assist our human flourishing, but they can also be a distraction or worse. And I think that’s the lens through which we need to assess our technology and the use of our time: does it make us flourish as persons? Does it help us be the people we want to be? Does it help us become the people God wants us to be?

An honest assessment of myself tells me that I’m not always on that path, but for the time spent on this project, and can give a firm yes.

Trick or Treat Evangelization, Oct. 2025

There is a woman in my parish who has been very instrumental in getting young families together for “family fun nights,” and I sometimes help plan these or play banjo at them. There was some talk of doing a trunk-or-treat at our parish, but it seemed too last minute, so I suggested we invite our parishioners to a community trunk-or-treat event and have a trunk on behalf of the parish. Of course I offered my truck, and they liked the idea. I dressed as Saint George, which was very fitting since St. George Catholic Church in Mifflinburg is the mission church of our Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Lewisburg. I set up at the Hartley Township trunk-or-treat that happened the week before Halloween, and passed out over 100 prayer cards and invitations to Mass. Many children were more excited about the prayer cards than the candy! I definitely sensed a spiritual hunger. I didn’t know it was a competition, but at the end of the evening, I was awarded second place for my trunk haha. Here’s a picture of me as Saint George.

On Halloween night, I brought my truck to a trunk-or-treat in the middle of town. I offered prayer cards but this time set up as Mr. Chin. I was very fun. Kids were leary but parents thought it was hilarious. My friend Richard came to be my body guard and he helped me discern that this could minister to people in a special way too–make them laugh and see how a guy who’s serious about his faith can also do something silly and fun. My wife and daughters have been there for trunk-or-treating, and that has also been very fun. Here’s Mr. Chin:

The day after Halloween, there was a special Children’s Mass at our Parish where kids dressed up like saints. I again dressed like Saint George at the party that followed, mostly to try to witness to the boys who maybe were feeling like they were too old to dress up. My daughters dressed like St. Gainna (a nurse), and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (a queen). Very proud of my girls!

Street Evangelizing – July

On July 3rd, I got out street evangelizing with my friend Livia in the Walmart parking lot in Lewisburg. Her husband and two sons were along and we made a few coin rings together before he had to head out, and by that time a small crowd gathered to keep us busy.

A young man told us about his conversion to Christianity from atheism as a teenager. Another woman told us about how God carried her through a very difficult medical issue coupled with difficulty in home, and in the middle of the conversation, she was joined by a friend of hers who was in the middle of a difficult medical condition of her own. Seeing the two of them uplift one another was very encouraging.

Another woman stopped by and we made four rings for her–two for her and two for a wheelchair bound man she takes care of. She told us how the poor man is riddled with sores on his back and how he can’t reach them, and how she will scratch them for him, and how she tries to be the hands and feet of Jesus. She was vibrant and joyful, and when we offered praise for her virtue, she’d say, “It’s all Jesus!”

Another woman stopped for a ring and told us of how she’s trying to take care of her adult daughter and grandchildren and dying brother. She too radiated the love of Christ and seemed encourage by our ministry.

I was really amazing to a larger glimpse of the Body of Christ and how God is working amongst his people. Praise be to God!

We chose the Walmart parking lot because we suspected (correctly it seems) that we would encounter more people just trying to make ends meet comparted to the restaurant goers of downtown Lewisburg that we normally see. (Of course we like to see those people too.) Unfortunately, we were asked to leave at the end of the evening, so I wouldn’t feel right about going back. Where else can we encounter that demographic? If you have any good ideas, leave in the comment section!

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