Monsignor Maroun Lahham appointed as the Bishop of Tunisia

On the 8th of September 2005, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appointed Monsignor Maroun Lahham, a faculty member at Bethlehem University and Rector of the Latin Patriarchate Seminary in Beit Jala, as the Bishop of Tunisia.  On the 2nd of October 2005 at the Latin Patriarchate Seminary Church in the midst of thousands of faithful, including Brother Daniel Casey, Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University, and many faculty, staff and Brothers of Bethlehem University, Msgr Marroun Lahham was ordained Bishop by Patriarch Michel Sabbah. 

Among his many apostolic activities before being named Bishop, since 1996 Msgr. Lahham served as a faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies.  Within the first week of his consecration, Bishop Maroun Lahham returned to Bethlehem University on the Feast of the Holy Rosary to celebrate the 12:00 noon Mass on Friday the 7th of October 2005 at the University Chapel of the Divine Child.  In addition to the faculty, staff, and students there were many guests from the local community who attended Mass and received God’s Blessings from Bishop Lahham before he set off for his new assignment as Bishop of Tunisia. 

Bishop Maroun Lahham was born on the 20th of July 1948 in Irbid, Jordan.  He did his secondary school and theological studies at the Latin Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala and was ordained a priest by the Patriarch Giacomo Beltritti on the 24th of June 1972 in Jerusalem.  Father Lahham served in a variety of parishes of the Latin Patriarchate starting as an assistant in Christ the King in Amman and in Al Fuheis.  For three years he served in the Gulf working closely with H.E. Mgr. B. Gremoli.  Upon his return to Jordan, Father Lahham resumed his previous posts in Amman and Madaba and in 1988 he left for Rome to continue his studies at the Lateran University, obtaining his Doctoral degree in Pastoral Theology.  Upon his returned to the Holy Land, Father Lahham was nominated Director General of the Schools of the Latin Patriarchate in the Palestinian Territories and in 1994 he was nominated Rector of the Latin Patriarchate Seminary in Beit Jala, during which time he also served on the faculty of Bethlehem University.

The Bethlehem University community joins with the other people of the Latin Patriarchate and of the Church of Tunisia is congratulating Bishop Maroun Lahham and promising our prayerful support for him as he assumed his most significant ministry in the Church.