Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (Maronite) Eparchia Sancti Maronis Bruklyniensis Maronitarum |
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Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral
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Location | |
Country | United States |
Ecclesiastical province | Immediately Subject to the Holy See |
Statistics | |
Population - Catholics |
(as of 2014) 33,000 |
Parishes | 34 |
Information | |
Sui iuris church | Maronite Church |
Rite | West Syro-Antiochene Rite |
Established | January 10, 1966 (51 years ago) |
Cathedral | Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Patriarch | Bechara Boutros al-Rahi |
Eparch | Gregory John Mansour |
Emeritus Bishops | Stephen Youssef Doueihi |
Map | |
Website | |
www |
Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn (in Latin: Eparchia Sancti Maronis Bruklyniensis Maronitarum) is an entity pertaining to the Apostolic Maronite Patriarchal Church of Antioch and is a diocese of the Maronite Church for the east coast of the United States, being headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. In conformity with the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), the Eparchy is under the direct jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff. In 2014 there were 33,000 baptized. It is currently ruled by eparch Gregory John Mansour.
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 (Brooklyn). The Saint Maron Maronite church in Detroit, dedicated to Saint Maron, is the former cathedral church of the eparchy.
The territory is divided into 34 parishes and in 2014 had 33,000 Lebanese Maronite Catholics.
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 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.
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. He took office on 27 January 1966.