Mar Ephrem Joseph Younan

Syriac Catholic Eparch (Bishop) of
Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Eparchy (Diocese)
in the United States and Canada

Born: November 15, 1944
Ordained priest: September 12, 1971
Ordained bishop: January 7, 1996
Installed as bishop: 1996

Email: marephrem@aol.com

Bishop Joseph Younan was born in Hassakeh, Syria and is the middle of nine children, having four brothers and four sisters.  He attended Assumption Parochial School after graduation went on to study at Our Lady of Deliverance Seminary in Charfet, Lebanon.  He continued to pursue his priestly formation and career at “Propaganda Fide” and earned a double Licentiate (Masters) in philosophy and theology from Urbaniana University in Rome.

Bishop Younan was ordained to the priesthood on September 12, 1971 and after appointed teach in the Seminary in Charfet where he was the director of the Major Seminary for two years. He returned to him home Diocese of Hassakeh where he functioned as Diocesan Director of Cathechesis.  He remained in this position as director for seven years.  He was then appointed pastor of the Church of the Annunciation in Beirut in 1980 where he remained until 1986.

In March of 1986 he was assigned to the United States where he was to establish a mission in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area to gather Syriac Rite Catholics.  Soon after his arrival with the guidance and assistance of the The Most Reverend Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrck, Archbishop of Newark where he established his first mission of Our Lady of Deliverance.  In 1988, he was further appointed “Coordinator” by the Sacred Congregation for Eastern Rite Churches among his colleague missionary priests in the United States and Canada.  And in 1991, he was officially appointed “Apostolic Delegate” by the same Congregation to represent the Congregation and the Syriac Rite to the Catholic hierarchy of North America. 

Later in 1991 he established Sacred Heart Syriac Catholic Mission in Los Angeles and in 1994 he established Our Lady of Perpetual Help in San Diego.  In June of that same year he was elevated to the rank of Chorbishop by the Patriarch Mar Igantius Antoun II Hayek.

In 1995, he was named by the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II as the first Bishop of the newly erected diocese “Our Lady of Deliverance Diocese for Syriac Catholics in the United States and Canada.”  Currently, Bishop Younan resides in Union City, New Jersey with the pastor of the parish and his secretary Father ST Sutton. Bishop Younan fluently speaks: Arabic, French, Aramaic, Italian, German and English.