Biographical
Highlights of His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Hector Youssef Doueihi, S.T.D.
Bishop of the Eparchy of Saint
Maron of Brooklyn
Bishop Stephen Hector Youssef Doueihi was born to Youssef and Hassiba Zakhia
Doueihi on June 25, 1927 in Zgharta of North Lebanon. His early
education was in Lebanon, and he later attended the Patriarchal Seminary of
Saint Maron at Ghazir, in Kesrwan Lebanon from 1941
through 1945; the Major Seminary at the Pontifical University of Saint
Joseph in Beirut, Lebanon from 1946 through 1949; and the Collegio De
Propaganda Fide in Rome from 1952 through 1956. Bishop Doueihi was
ordained a priest for the Patriarchal Eparchy on August 14, 1955 at the
Chapel of the Patriarchal Summer Residence in Dimane, North Lebanon
by His Beatitude, Paul Peter Cardinal Meouchi, late Maronite Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East.
After ordination, Fr. Doueihi returned to Rome to earn a Doctorate in Sacred
Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, which he received in 1959.
His Doctoral dissertation is entitled Ibn Al-Qala'i, moine Franciscain
et évêque Maronite +1516. While in Rome, Fr. Doueihi did additional
work in Eastern Studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Upon his
return to Lebanon from Rome, he was appointed Pastor of the Parish of
Zgharta which he served from 1959 to 1969, simultaneously serving as
Administrator of the Wakfs of Zgharta from 1967-1969. In
October of 1969, Fr. Doueihi was sent from Lebanon to Mexico where he was
assigned as Pastor of the Maronite Parish of Our Lady of Bethlehem in
Puebla.
In 1972, Fr. Doueihi was incardinated in the Diocese of Saint Maron -U.S.A.
and began his pastoral ministry to the Maronites in the United States under
the guidance of Bishop (later Archbishop) Francis Mansour Zayek. In August
of 1973, Fr. Doueihi was assigned by Bishop Zayek as Pastor to the Maronite
faithful in Peoria, Illinois, and later, he was assigned as Administrator of
St. George Church in Wilkes-Barre, PA. In 1977, Fr. Doueihi was appointed
Vice Rector of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C. and
Assistant Pastor at the Parish of Our Lady of Lebanon in the same city. In
1978, Fr. Doueihi was named to the Diocesan Liturgical Commission, and was
appointed as the Director of the Office of Liturgy (a position he has held
until the present time). In this capacity, along with Archbishop Zayek, he
has provided vital leadership in the implementation of reforms to the
Maronite Liturgy in the United States. In 1979 he was named as Pastor of Our
Lady of Lebanon Parish in Washington, D.C. In 1983 Fr. Doueihi was elevated
to the rank of Periodeut with the title of Monsignor.
In 1987, Msgr. Hector Doueihi was transferred to Pastor of St. George Church
in San Antonio, Texas, where he served until 1989. He was then named Rector
of Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY, where he assumed his
duties on December 9, 1989. The same year, he was appointed by Maronite
Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfeir as a member of the Patriarchal Liturgical
Commission. Chorbishop Doueihi has also served as a Protopresbyter
in the Diocese of Saint Maron-U.S.A and as a member of the Presbyteral
Council and the College of Consultors of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of
Brooklyn.
On November 23, 1996 the Holy See announced that His Holiness, Pope John
Paul II had appointed the Reverend Chorbishop Hector Youssef Doueihi as the
second Bishop of the Eparchy ofSaint Maron of Brooklyn. Bishop Doueihi is
well-known as a teacher. In addition to his teaching at the Seminary of Our
Lady of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., he has been a professor of Theology at
the University of Saint Joseph in Beirut; at the Seminary of Karmsaddeh
in the Diocese of Tripoli in Lebanon; at the University of the Holy
Spirit at Kaslik in Lebanon; and at the Seminary of the Diocese of
Puebla in Mexico where he also served as a professor of French Language. His
scholarly publications include: Notre Eglise en Question (Beirut,
1969); A Priest among us (in Arabic); Un Theologien Maronite,
Gabra'il Ibn QalaI, Eveque et Moine Franciscain, 1450-1516 (Kaslik,
Lebanon, 1993); an Arabic Translation of Priêres by Pére Michel
Quoist; "The Church of Stone and the Church of People" (in Arabic
Almawakif, N.15, 1969, Lebanon); The Maronite Liturgical Year,
Volumes I-III (Diocese of Saint Maron-U.S.A. 1982-1983); the English
texts of the Liturgical Reforms of the Maronite Liturgy published by Saint
Maron's Publications: The Qorbono (five volumes, 1993- 1994);
Mystery of Crowning (1985), Mystery of Initiation (1987),
Ginnazat (The Book of Funeral Rites) (1989), and The Maronite
Pontifical (1995). Bishop Doueihi is fluent in seven languages: Arabic,
English, French, Italian, Spanish, Syriac and Latin. He was enthroned as the
second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn on February 5, 1997
at Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY.
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