Former Uniontown pastor featured in Greensburg diocese lectures
As part of its observance of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg will host two, free public lectures that feature its own bishop as well as a Maronite bishop who formerly served as pastor of a Uniontown church.
Greensburg Bishop Edward C. Malesic, 55, whose diocese includes Fayette County, will speak on the mercy of God in his talk, scheduled for Feb. 23.
Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour, 60, of the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, N.Y., will address the plight of Christians in the Middle East in his talk on March 1. Mansour, whose diocese consists of 16 states, including Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, is a former pastor of St. George Maronite Catholic Church in Uniontown.
Both lectures will begin at 7 p.m. in St. Joseph Chapel at the Bishop Connare Center, Route 30, east of Greensburg.
Prior to Mansour’s lecture, an opening will be held at 6:15 p.m. March 1 at the Diocesan Heritage Center for a Jubilee Year of Mercy exhibit, which will highlight artistic and historic pieces from throughout the diocese.
Jerry Zufelt, managing director for the diocese’s Office for Communications, said the artifacts will include “a monstrance from St. Francis of Assisi Parish, which will be used to highlight the acts of mercy of St. Maximilian Kolbe. There is a shrine to the saint at the Footedale worship site for St. Francis of Assisi Parish.”
St. Maximilan Kolbe, who was canonized in 1982, was a Polish priest who died during World War II in the Nazi prison camp Auschwitz after exchanging places with a man who had a family and was selected to be starved.
Zufelt said the Greensburg diocese invited Mansour because of his connection to Uniontown but also his work regarding the Middle East.
“He has professed criticism of how Christians are being treated,” Zufelt said.
In a press release issued by the diocese, Mansour commented, “While the world is sleeping, ISIS continues its deliberate genocide of Christians and other minorities, erasing all signs of their communities as well as any people who get in their way.”
Mansour added, “Genocide is the right word. No other word is as accurate, and no other word will garner world support to stop them. We need to wake form our sleep and do something about this.”
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is co-sponsoring Mansour’s lecture, noted the diocese, explaining the order provides for the needs of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the activities and initiatives necessary to support the Christian presence in the Holy Land through financial contributions and prayer.
Born in Flint, Mich., in 1955, Mansour was ordained to the priesthood in 1982 and received his first pastorate in 1983 in Uniontown where he served the congregation of St. George Parish until 1994 when a second Maronite eparchy, Our Lady of Lebanon, was established in the United States. Mansour served as vicar general, chancellor and financial officer of the new eparchy in Los Angeles, elevated to chorbishop in 1996.
Mansour was relocated to St. Louis, Mo., where he remained vicar general until 2004 when Pope John Paul II named Mansour the third bishop of the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn. He was ordained in Lebanon by Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir on March 2, 2004.
Mansour, who has degrees in health education, theological studies and spiritual theology, also undertook graduate work at UCLA in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures program with a special emphasis on Islamic studies.
The Greensburg diocese noted Mansour has served in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and is actively involved with efforts to defend Christianity in the Middle East.
Malesic, who was ordained and installed as the fifth bishop of Greensburg last July, said he will base his talk on Pope Francis’s apostolic letter announcing the Jubilee Year of Mercy and the book “The Name of God Is Mercy,” which is based on an interview with the pope, according to the Greensburg diocese.
In the diocese’s press release, Malesic said, “Knowing the person of Jesus draws us deeper into the mystery of God’s care for us, God’s merciful character, the beauty of reconciliation and the need to be the image of God’s mercy for others.”