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By Baghdadhope*Source of news and photos: Ankawa.com
On April 12 the Holy Father Benedict XVI gave his consent to the appointment of the parish priest of the Syriac Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Los Angeles (USA), Msgr. Yousef B. Habash, as bishop of the Diocese of Our Lady of Deliverance in Newark for the faithful in the United States and Canada the see of which was vacant since February 17 of the previous year since Mar Ignatius Joseph III Younan was enthroned in Lebanon as the new patriarch of the church.
On June 11 in Bakhdida (Qara Qosh), the new bishop’s hometown, took place the ceremony of his ordination in the church of the Immaculate. The ceremony, that saw a large participation of faithful and clergy, was presided over by Mar Ignatius Yousef III Younan who, from 8 to 14 of June, made his second apostolic visit to Iraq during which he also met some of the students who, in the beginning of May, were victims of an attack to the convoy of buses that each day brings them to Mosul for university courses and to whom he remembered as young boys and girls represent the future of the church that trusts in them.
For the Syriac Catholic Church besides its Patriarch there were Msgr. Mikhail Jamil, procurator to the Holy See and Apostolic Visitor in Europe, Msgr. George Alqas Musa, bishop of Mosul, Msgr. Atanase Mati Shaba Matoka, bishop of Baghdad and Msgr. Rabula Antoine Beylouni, Archbishop Emeritus of Alep of Syria and Titular Archbishop of Mardin. For the Syriac Orthodox Church there was the bishop of Mosul Msgr. Gregorius Saliba Chamoun and for the Chaldean Church there were Msgr. Louis Sako (Kirkuk), Msgr. Rabban Alqas (Amadhiya), Msgr. Bashar Warda (Erbil) and Msgr. Emile Nona (Mosul). The day after his ordination Msgr. Habash attended a Mass in the church of Mar Benham and Sara in Bakhdida.