Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn

Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn Eparchia Sancti Maronis Bruklyniensis Maronitarum
Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral
Location
Country	United States
Ecclesiastical province	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Statistics
Population - Catholics	(as of 2010) 33,000
Parishes	34
Information
Denomination	Maronite Catholic Church
Rite	West Syro-Antiochene Rite
Established	January 10, 1966 (49 years ago)
Cathedral	Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Eparch	Gregory John Mansour
Emeritus Bishops	Stephen Youssef Doueihi
Map

Website
www.stmaron.org/%20www.stmaron.org

The Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn is the diocese of the Maronite Church for the east coast of the United States.

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 on 10 January 1966. Its object was to provide a unified structure to serve the Maronite Catholics scattered around the country, who were subject, up to that point, to the local Roman Catholic diocese.<ref name=AM /^[1]

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.<ref name=TMV /^[2] He took office on 11 June 1966.^[3]

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.^[4]

Eparchy

In the Apostolic Constitution Quod providente, 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 St. Maron of Detroit. Zayek was installed as its first bishop on June 4, 1972. The seat of the eparchy was moved from Detroit to the Church of St. Maron in Brooklyn in June 1977 and renamed the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn.<ref name=CH /^[5]

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.^[6]