Nicholas Samra

Bishop Nicholas Samra
Eparch of Newton

Bishop Nicholas delivering a homily during a Memorial Service a Ukrainian Catholic Church in 2008.
Church Melkite Greek Catholic
See Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton
In office August 23, 2011
Predecessor Cyril Salim Bustros
Orders
Ordination May 10, 1970
by Archbishop Joseph Elias Tawil
Consecration July 6, 1989
by Archbishop Joseph Elias Tawil and Co-Consecraters Archbishop Michel Hakim, B.S. and Archbishop Boutros (Pierre) Raï, B.A.
Personal details
Born August 15, 1944
Paterson, New Jersey

Nicholas Samra (born August 15, 1944) is the eparch of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton in the United States, elected in 2011. He has written extensively on the subject of ecumenism and the Eastern Catholic Churches. 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, which has Mexico City as its headquarters; he will serve in the wake of the death of the former eparch there until a permanent successor can be named, while retaining his duties as Eparch of Newton, in the U.S.[1]

Biography

Early life and priesthood

Samra was born 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 Samra 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 Nicholas Samra at Annunciation Melkite Catholic Cathedral, January 2012

Samra served as Auxiliary Bishop and Protosyncellus until he retired on January 11, 2005 to devote himself to scholarly work.[2]

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.[3][4]

An active speaker and author, 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. He is the past president of the Eastern Catholic Association of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Scholarly Work

In October 2014, 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]

References

External links

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