Eastern Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the US
The Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (Latin: Eparchia Sancti Maronis Bruklyniensis Maronitarum)[2] is a Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church eparchy of the Catholic Church headquartered in Brooklyn, New York for the East Coast of the United States. In conformity with the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), the eparchy is under the direct jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff. In 2017 there were 33,000[3] baptized. It is currently ruled by eparch Gregory John Mansour.
Territory and statistics
The eparchy includes the Maronite Catholic faithful in the eastern coast states of the United States.
It borders in the north with the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Maron of Montreal, which covers Canada, and to the west with the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, which covers thirty-four states of the United States.
Its eparchial seat is the city of Brooklyn, where is located the Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral.[4] The Saint Maron Maronite church[5] in Detroit, dedicated to Saint Maron, is the former cathedral church of the eparchy.
The territory is divided into 34 parishes and in 2017 had 33,000 Lebanese Maronite Catholics.
History
Foundation
The diocese has its roots in the establishment of a Maronite Apostolic Exarchate (the equivalent in the Eastern Churches of an Apostolic Vicariate) by Pope Paul VI's papal bull Cum supremi[6] on 10 January 1966. Its object was to provide a unified structure to serve the Lebanese Maronite Catholics scattered around the country, who were subject, up to that point, to the local Roman Catholic diocese.[7]
At that time, Pope Paul appointed Francis Mansour Zayek as the first exarch of the Maronites in the United States. The eparchate was based in Detroit, Michigan. Zayek, who had just spent several years in a similar post in Brazil, arrived in the United States with a rudimentary knowledge of English, only to find an unfinished cathedral and rectory.[8] He took office on 27 January 1966.[7]
Zayek had to face many challenges. First was the very identity of the church. Arguments raged as to whether it was to be a transplant of Lebanese life or an American institution rooted in its Lebanese heritage. In this he remained guided by the advice which Pope John had given him on his original appointment, "What you Maronites have does not pertain to you alone but is part of the treasure of the Catholic Church". Additionally, he had to deal with the liturgical changes mandated by the Second Vatican Council, in which he had participated. He had the Maronite Divine Liturgy translated into English for the first time, creating a standardized service for use in every parish of the exarchate.[8]
Eparchy
In the Apostolic Constitution Quae spes, issued on 29 November 1971, Pope Paul VI elevated the exarchate to a full eparchy, or diocese, and appointed Zayek as the first bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Detroit.[9] Zayek was installed as its first bishop on June 4, 1972. The seat of the eparchy was moved from Detroit to the Church of Saint Maron in Brooklyn on 27 June 1977[10] by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and it also renamed the name of the Eparchy to Saint Maron of Brooklyn.[11]
Zayek retired in 1996, with the personal title of Archbishop, and was succeeded by Bishop Stephen Youssef Doueihi, who himself retired on 10 January 2004 and was succeeded by Gregory J. Mansour.[11]
A part of its territory, which encompassed the entire United States, was lost on 19 March 1994 to the newly established Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles by Pope John Paul II's papal bull Omnium Catholicorum.[12]
Parishes and missions
As of 2010[update], the eparchy counts 43 parishes, served by 51 priests and 17 deacons.[11] Parishes are located in the following states:
