Leadership
Archbishop Joseph Absi, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Of Antioch and All the East
On Wednesday 21 June 2017, the Holy Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church elected Archbishop Joseph Absi as the Church’s new patriarch. He received ecclesiastical communion from Pope Francis the following day.Patriarch Joseph, aged 71, succeeds Patriarch Gregory III Laham, who retired 6 May at the age of 83.
The new patriarch was born in Damascus in 1946. He was or-dained a priest of the Missionary Society of St Paul in 1973. In 1999 he became superior general of the society, and two years later was appointed curial bishop of the Melkite Patriarchate of Antioch. In 2007, he was appointed the Patriarchal Vicar of the Melkite Archdio-cese of Damascus.
During the 2010 Synod on the Middle East, then-Archbishop Jo-seph lamented the strife among the Eastern Catholic Churches, call-ing the struggle a “fount of impairment and false testimony,” accord-ing to VaticanInsider.
“The Christians of the East,” he said, “are all in the same boat, and confront the same struggle. They cannot be disinterested each in the other.”
The new patriarch holds licentiates in philosophy and theology, and a doctorate in musical sciences and Byzantine hymnography from Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon. He has taught philosophy, Greek, and musicology at the university level.
More information is available at the Melkite Greek-Catholic Patriarchate website.
Most Rev. François Beyrouti, Bishop of the Eparchy of Newton
Bishop Francois was born July 3, 1971, to Elias and Maggy Beyrouti in Hadeth-Beirut, Lebanon. He has two brothers, +Joseph, of blessed memory, who passed away in 2004, and Anthony. The family emigrated to Canada in 1976, settling in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He entered the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission, British Columbia in 1989 where he completed a B.A. in 1993.
He then moved to Ottawa, Ontario, and in 1996 completed a Civil and Ecclesiastical Baccalaureate in Theology in Eastern Christian Studies at the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University. In 1997, he completed a Master of Arts in Theology, Biblical Studies concentration, and in 1998, a Licentiate in Theology, Biblical Studies concentration, both at Saint Paul University (Ottawa, Ontario). He has also completed workshops in Conflict Resolution and Youth Ministry.
On October 4, 1998, Bishop Sleiman Hajjar ordained Father François a priest. He was the first diocesan priest ordained for the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Saint-Sauveur (Montreal, Canada) where he served as Vocations director and member of the College of Consultors.
Upon ordination, Bishop Sleiman appointed him assistant pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Melkite Catholic Church in Ottawa where he ministered until January 31, 2010. There he focused on building up pastoral programs, developing strong children, youth, and young adult ministries, leading marriage preparation programs, media work with newspapers, radio, and TV stations, and engaged political leaders on religious topics. On the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth to the Throne, Father Francois was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal in a ceremony at the Parliament of Canada on November 1, 2002.
In 2013, he received a Ph.D. (The University of Ottawa) and D.Th. (Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario) for his thesis on Origen of Alexandria’s Commentary on the Gospel of John, focusing on Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4. During these studies, he attended and presented at Academic conferences and published articles and book reviews in academic journals.
He was incardinated into the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, USA on December 2, 2011, and serves on the Presbyteral Council and College of Eparchial Consultors. Since November 2012, he has been the pastor of Holy Cross Melkite Catholic Church in Placentia, California (www.HolyCrossMelkite.org) and since 2015, has served consecutive terms as president of the Eastern Catholic Pastoral Association.
He has taught the following courses: “Christianity in the Middle East” (2000), “Hermeneutics and Exegesis in Eastern Christianity” (2000, 2003, & 2015), “The Synoptic Gospels” (2008), “The Eastern Catholic Churches at Vatican II” (2014), and online courses on the Gospel of Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, the Bible in the Divine Liturgy, the Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus, and Foundational Bible resources. He has also given retreats for parishes and groups of priests. His weekly Sunday homilies appear on YouTube.com/MelkiteTV
For more information about the Eparchy and Bishop Francois, visit the Eparchy of Newton website.
Father Bryan McNeil, Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Fr. Bryan McNeil was ordained a Deacon in 1989 and assigned to St. Joseph Melkite Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He served there until 2017 when he was ordained to the Priesthood by Bishop Nicholas Samra. Bishop Nicholas assigned him to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 2019.
Fr. Bryan is married to Khourieh June (Kfoury). They have two grown children, Alana and Richard. In addition to his pastoral duties at OLPH, Fr. Bryan serves on the Vocations Team for the Eparchy and is also the director of the Deacon Formation Program.