Chemical engineer new Melkite head

By Anthony Barich
THE Vatican has approved the appointment of a chemical engineer as Bishop of the Greek-Melkite Eparchy of St Michael the Archangel of Sydney, effectively making him the head of Melkite Catholics in Australia and New Zealand.

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Melkite Bishop Nicholas J Samra to head the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts. The appointment was announced at the Vatican on 15 June. Bishop Samara will return to the eparchy where he had served as an Auxiliary Bishop until 2005. He is pictured at a prayer service in Washington in 2005. Photo: CNS/Paul Haring

Fr Robert Rabbat, 51, Rector of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Newton, USA, has been named bishop of St Michael’s of Sydney.
The Lebanese-born priest has a degree in chemical engineering and mathematics from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Communications from Purdue University, Indiana. He was ordained a priest in Beirut in 1994 and has served at parishes in Indiana and Illinois as well as editor of Sophia magazine.
The Apostolic Nunciature in Australia also announced on 14 June that the current Bishop of the Greek-Melkite Eparchy of St Michael the Archangel of Sydney since 1996 – Most Rev Issam Darwish, 66 – has been appointed Greek-Melkite Archbishop of Zahleh and Furzol, Lebanon.
In other appointments elected by the Greek-Melkite Synod of Bishops, Lebanese-born Archbishop Cyrille Bustros, 72, was confirmed as the new Melkite Archbishop of Beirut and Jbeil, a position vacant for 13 months. Since 2004, he has headed the Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts.
To make these appointments, the Congregation for Eastern Churches conducts a secret consultation and then appoints the candidate of their choice, according to the Melkite New Eparch of Newton website.  
It is often the first choice, but does not have to be any of the three.  For appointments within the Patriarchal territories, the Synod sends only one name and awaits Rome’s nihil obstat (“nothing hinders”).
If the Congregation of Eastern Churches objects to the appointment, the Synod chooses another name.