In United States, Bučys served as the pastor of Lithuanian parishes in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (August 1917 – May 1918) and Waukegan, Illinois (June 1918 – July 1921). From December 1918, he was also chaplain of the monastery of the Sisters of Saint Casimir and religion teacher at their school. At the same time, he edited the struggling Lithuanian daily Draugas (in February–July 1917 and September 1918 – July 1920) and in 1920 established religious weekly Laivas which continued to be published by the Marian Fathers in Chicago until 1990. He was also a member of the commission that collected a million signatures under a petition to President Warren G. Harding to recognize independent Lithuania.
