Leadership

Most Rev. François Beyrouti, Bishop of the Eparchy of Newton

St. Basil the Great is a parish of the Eparchy of Newton within the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Bishop Francois was born July 3, 1971, to Elias and Maggy Beyrouti in Hadeth-Beirut, Lebanon. He has two brothers, +Joseph, of blessed memory, who passed away in 2004, and Anthony. The family emigrated to Canada in 1976, settling in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He entered the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission, British Columbia in 1989 where he completed a B.A. in 1993.

He then moved to Ottawa, Ontario, and in 1996 completed a Civil and Ecclesiastical Baccalaureate in Theology in Eastern Christian Studies at the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University. In 1997, he completed a Master of Arts in Theology, Biblical Studies concentration, and in 1998, a Licentiate in Theology, Biblical Studies concentration, both at Saint Paul University (Ottawa, Ontario). He has also completed workshops in Conflict Resolution and Youth Ministry.

On October 4, 1998, Bishop Sleiman Hajjar ordained Father François a priest. He was the first diocesan priest ordained for the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Saint-Sauveur (Montreal, Canada) where he served as Vocations director and member of the College of Consultors.

Upon ordination, Bishop Sleiman appointed him assistant pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Melkite Catholic Church in Ottawa where he ministered until January 31, 2010. There he focused on building up pastoral programs, developing strong children, youth, and young adult ministries, leading marriage preparation programs, media work with newspapers, radio, and TV stations, and engaged political leaders on religious topics. On the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth to the Throne, Father Francois was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal in a ceremony at the Parliament of Canada on November 1, 2002.

In 2013, he received a Ph.D. (The University of Ottawa) and D.Th. (Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario) for his thesis on Origen of Alexandria’s Commentary on the Gospel of John, focusing on Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4. During these studies, he attended and presented at Academic conferences and published articles and book reviews in academic journals.

He was incardinated into the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, USA on December 2, 2011, and serves on the Presbyteral Council and College of Eparchial Consultors. Since November 2012, he has been the pastor of Holy Cross Melkite Catholic Church in Placentia, California (www.HolyCrossMelkite.org) and since 2015, has served consecutive terms as president of the Eastern Catholic Pastoral Association.

He has taught the following courses: “Christianity in the Middle East” (2000), “Hermeneutics and Exegesis in Eastern Christianity” (2000, 2003, & 2015), “The Synoptic Gospels” (2008), “The Eastern Catholic Churches at Vatican II” (2014), and online courses on the Gospel of Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, the Bible in the Divine Liturgy, the Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus, and Foundational Bible resources. He has also given retreats for parishes and groups of priests. His weekly Sunday homilies appear on YouTube.com/MelkiteTV

For more information about the Eparchy and Bishop Francois, visit the Eparchy of Newton website.

Rev. Thomas Moses, Administrator of St. Basil the Great

Fr. Thomas was born in 1986 to Richard and Robyn Moses of Boston, Massachusetts. He was baptized in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church at Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, MA as an infant. He married his wife Rebekah in 2018. They have two young daughters.

Fr. Thomas graduated from Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH in 2004, and St. Anselm College, in Manchester, NH in 2010. In 2013, Fr. Thomas began preparation for Holy Orders by attending Sts. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2017, he received his Master of Divinity degree with highest honors. He then returned to New Hampshire and his home parish of Our Lady of the Cedars Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He served as a subdeacon until his ordination to the diaconate on May 5, 2019.

He taught theology at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, New Hampshire from 2017-2022, and served as a per diem Chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital, in Nashua from 2018-2021. He is an assistant representative of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton to the Eparchial Directors of Religious Education, where he has been helping to bring Eastern Catholic Formation to many of the faithful in an online format through God With Us Online, www.godwithusonline.org. He and his wife Rebekah have recently been appointed co-directors of the National Association of Melkite Youth, NAMY.

Bishop Nicholas ordained Fr. Thomas on November 6, 2021 and appointed him as the administrator of St. Basil’s Church in Utica, New York. Fr. Thomas began full-time ministry at St. Basil’s Church at the conclusion of the school year in June of 2022. He now lives and ministers in Utica, NY and its surrounding area with his family.

(Photo: Matthew Lomanno)