Nicholas Samra
His Grace, The Most Reverend Nicholas James Samra | |
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| Eparch of Newton | |
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| Church | Melkite Greek Catholic |
| See | Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton |
| Appointed | June 15, 2011 |
| Installed | August 23, 2011 |
| Predecessor | Cyril Salim Bustros |
| Other post(s) | Apostolic Administrator of Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | May 10, 1970 |
| Consecration | July 6, 1989 by Joseph Elias Tawil, Michel Hakim, and Boutros Raï |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 15, 1944 Paterson, New Jersey |
| Previous post(s) | Auxiliary Eparch of Newton Titular Bishop of Gerasa |
| Motto | Steward Of The Mysteries |
| Styles of Nicholas James Samra | |
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| Spoken style | His Grace |
| Religious style | Eparch |
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Nicholas James Samra (born August 15, 1944) is the eparch of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton in the United States, elected in 2011. He is also Apostolic Administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City since 2015. Bishop Samra has written extensively on the subject of ecumenism and the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Biography[]
Early life and priesthood[]
Bishop Samra was born on August 15, 1944 in Paterson, New Jersey to George H. Samra and Elizabeth Balady Samra. His grandparents and his father were immigrants to the United States from Aleppo, Syria. He was ordained a priest for the Eparchy of Newton on May 10, 1970 and served as a pastor in Melkite parishes in Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey. Bishop Samra earned the B.A. at Saint Anselm College, Goffstown, New Hampshire, and a B.D. from St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts.
Episcopate[]
On April 21, 1989, Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Samra to Auxiliary Bishop of the Eparchy of Newton and Titular Bishop of Gerasa. Archbishop Joseph Tawil consecrated and installed him on July 6 of that year.
Bishop Samra served as Auxiliary Bishop and Protosyncellus until he retired on January 11, 2005 to devote himself to scholarly work.[1]
In June 2011, the Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church nominated him as Eparch of Newton to succeed Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, and Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the position on June 15, 2011.[2][3]
On Friday, January 16, 2015, he was appointed by Pope Francis to serve also as Apostolic Administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Nuestra Señora del Paraíso in Mexico City, following the death of the former eparch[4] until Joseph Khawam was appointed as successor on December 20, 2019.
Scholarly Work[]
In October 2014, Bishop Samra presented "Eastern Catholicism in the Middle East Fifty Years after Orientalium ecclesiarum" at the conference "The Vatican II Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches, Orientalium ecclesiarum - Fifty Years Later" organized by the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies held at the University of Toronto.[5]
An active speaker and author, Bishop Samra has written extensively on the subject of ecumenism, Christian leadership and stewardship. He has also published a multi-volume history of the Melkite Church and a book on the legacy of Archbishop Joseph Tawil.
Other activities[]
Bishop Samra is the past president of the Eastern Catholic Association of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Having celebrated his 75th birthday on August 15, 2019, Bishop Samra has submitted his request for retirement to The Holy See which, as of yet, has not acted to replace him. He has recently stated that the Melkite Synod will not consider naming a successor until the 2022 synod.
See also[]
- Catholic Church hierarchy
- Catholic Church in the United States
- Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
- List of Catholic bishops of the United States
- Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops
References[]
- ^ Catholic News Service (January 13, 2005). "Melkite Bishop Nicholas Samra retires". The Georgia Bulletin. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008.
- ^ Robert M. O'Grady (June 24, 2011). "New bishop named for Melkite Catholics". The Boston Pilot.
- ^ "Bishop Nicholas James Samra". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 16.01.2015" (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. January 16, 2015.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Eastern Catholic Churches: A Roman Catholic Perspective, Brian Daley. YouTube.
External links[]
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Episcopal succession[]
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- American Eastern Catholics
- American people of Syrian descent
- American Melkite Greek Catholic bishops
- 1944 births
- Living people
- People from Paterson, New Jersey
- Melkite Greek Catholic bishops
- Saint Anselm College alumni