Eparchy of Newton

Eparchy of Newton (Melkite Greek) Eparchia Neotoniensis Graecorum Melkitarum
Coat of arms of the Eparchy of Newton
Location
Country	United States
Ecclesiastical province	Eastern Catholic Eparchies Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Statistics
Population - Catholics	(as of 2013) 24,000
Parishes	43
Information
Denomination	Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Rite	Byzantine Rite
Established	January 10, 1966 (51 years ago)
Cathedral	Annunciation Cathedral
Secular priests	68
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Patriarch	Youssef Absi
Eparch	Nicholas James Samra
Emeritus Bishops	John Elya
Website
www.melkite.org

Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton (in Latin: Eparchia Neotoniensis Graecorum Melkitarum) is an eparchy of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Holy See and therefore part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The eparchy encompasses the entire United States.

The current eparch, Bishop Nicholas James Samra, was appointed in 2011.

The first large wave of Melkite immigration from the Middle East to the United States took place in the late 19th century, and the first American Melkite church was established in the 1890s. Because there was no diocesan structure for Melkites in the United States at the time, Melkite parishes were each under the jurisdiction of the local Latin-rite diocesan bishop.

As the Melkite presence in the United States reached 70 years, the Holy See erected an apostolic exarchate on January 10, 1966 to serve the needs of Melkite Catholics in the country, with the title Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Melkite). Archmandrite Justin Najmy (1898–1968), pastor of St. Basil the Great Church in Central Falls, Rhode Island, was designated as the first Exarch by Pope Paul VI on January 27, 1966.

The appointment of Najmy as exarch at first drew protest from the Melkite patriarch Maximos IV, because he and the Synod of the Melkite Church had chosen a different candidate, and the appointment, decided by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, made the new Exarch subject to the Holy See, and only responsible to the Patriarch and the Synod in liturgical matters.