Clergy
Abouna Justin
Our Pastor, Father Justin Rose, was born in Manchester, NH, and grew up in Winterport and Portland, ME. He returned to Manchester to attend St. Anselm College and began worshipping at Our Lady of the Cedars Melkite Greek-Catholic Church. Upon graduation, after a year of waiting tables in Portland, Father Justin entered St. Gregory the Theologian Melkite Seminary in Newton, MA, and was ordained a priest on May 28, 1995. As a deacon, he served St. Ann Church in Danbury, CT. His first priestly assignment was in Harlem, NYC, serving the homeless at Emmaus House. After nearly two years, Bishop John Elya transferred Abouna Justin to Holy Cross Church in Orange County, CA. After a year as an associate there, Bishop John assigned Father Justin to St. Philip the Apostle Mission in San Bernardino, CA, where he also taught at Aquinas Roman Catholic High School. 20 years later, Bishop Nicholas Samra transferred Father Justin to St. George the Great Martyr Church in Birmingham, AL. Abouna Justin took over as pastor on September 1, 2017.
Abouna Justin is a Professor of Patristics and Pastoral Theology for the Byzantine Catholic Seminary, an instructor in the Melkite Diaconal Training Program, and serves on the Seminary Board. He holds a PhD. from the University of California and a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is not a liturgist. He is one of the founding spiritual fathers of the Melkite Association of Young Adults, which he served for 24 years. He co-wrote a Safe Environment program with Deacon Michael Mobley that was the standard training for the protection of children in the Melkite Diocese of Newton until last year. He has recorded two albums of Melkite Music that are available for free download on www.melkite.org. He co-founded and served in the Lazaros Ministry, which, for 17 years, served a weekly meal to the homeless and working poor in San Bernardino, CA.
An avid Star Trek fan, Abouna spends his free time with Mady and Rex, his dogs, exploring the numerous parks, excellent restaurants, and breweries in Birmingham.
Fr. Deacon Andrew
Fr. Deacon Andrew Baroody has faithfully served his parish in many capacities including parish council and food festival chair as well as a youth group advisor and religious education teacher. Father Andrew was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on February 1, 2015. Fr. Andrew ministers to many of our homebound parishioners with regular house calls.
Fr. Andrew Thomas Baroody is the son of Mary Cullen Baroody of Leesburg, Virginia and William Joseph Baroody, Jr. Fr. Andrew earned a B.A. degree in English from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is the Vice President of Sales Operations at BioHorizons Implant Systems. He has more than 30 years’ experience in customer relations. He and Sharon Elaine, the youngest daughter of Joe and Elaine Ritchey, were crowned April 2, 1989. Fr. Deacon Andrew and Sharon have four sons: Andrew Thomas, Jr., Stephen Joseph, Adam Cullen, and Joshua Elias, and two grandchildren.
Fr. Deacon Robert
Fr. Deacon Robert Klesko grew up in Michigan and attended St. Mary’s College for his undergraduate studies in Theology. He became reacquainted with his future bride during graduate studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He and Pani Aundrea married on May 16, 2009, and over their fifteen years of marriage have been blessed with five boys (Joseph, Cyril, Tadeusz, Gregory, Albert) and one girl (Magdalena).
Fr. Dcn. Robert was ordained to the holy diaconate on November 29, 2023, at the Church of St. John Chrysostom in Houston, TX, by Metropolitan Archbishop William Skurla. While canonically Ruthenian Catholic, Fr. Dcn. Robert loves serving at his adopted Melkite home. He serves as the Director of God With Us Online and is active in our sacramental preparation programs. His day job is as a Theology Advisor at EWTN and an occasional writer for the NC Register. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking for family and friends (especially BBQ) and the fellowship that follows.
Subdeacon Riley
Subdeacon Riley Winstead, M.Div., a native of Minot, North Dakota, returned to St. George in 2023 after spending a year of residency in Birmingham during the 2020 lockdowns. He was ordained a subdeacon on August 6th, 2021, by Bishop Nicholas Samra after being set aside as a Reader on November 16th, 2019. He works as a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) in the UAB Hospital System. Riley met his wife, Emily Winstead, BSN, RN, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while studying at The Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Ss. Cyril and Methodius. They were crowned at Holy Transfiguration in Washington, D.C.
Reader Joseph
Reader Joseph, baptized Charles Joseph Pharo Jr. by Patriarch Maximos V in 1969, is the youngest son of Marie and Charles Joseph Pharo Sr. He was set aside as a tontured Reader as Joseph on Thomas Sunday in 1988 by Archbishop Joseph Tawil. Reader Joseph and his wife Dana were crowned on September 9th, 2006.
With a professional background in live, studio, and broadcast multimedia, Reader Joseph has been an invaluable asset at close to four decades of funerals, wedding dances, food festivals, and countless other parish functions. As the most senior and longest serving Reader in the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, he has not only efficaciously elevated the music and services at St. George, and assisted in training at various other parishes and Melkite Conventions, he has brought dignity to the ministry of the minor orders.
Reader Joseph can always be expected to lighten tense situations with a near-perfect Kermit the Frog or Fred Rogers impression.
Memory Eternal
O Lord, grant to this Your servant to rest with the righteous
ones and to dwell in Your courts, as it is written.
Since You are a merciful God, forgive his sins, both deliberate and
indeliberate, and all his transgressions he committed
by thought, word, or deed, knowingly or unknowingly.
For You are the Lover of Mankind.
Necrology for the Melkite Eparchy of Newton
Archbishop Joseph
Father Joseph M. Raya served as pastor of St. George Melkite Catholic Church in Birmingham, Alabama, from 1952 to 1968. He quickly became known as a priest who lived the Gospel with courage and conviction. He insisted on celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the language of the people so that faith could be accessible to all, to the point of producing many of the initial English translations of the service texts and scripture readings used by Eastern Catholics and Orthodox alike. He became deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Father Raya endured threats, beatings, and even Ku Klux Klan intimidation for his defense of human dignity and equality. When African-Americans could no longer safely attend St. George due to violence, he responded by founding St. Moses the Abyssinian — the first Byzantine Catholic mission in the United States dedicated to African-Americans.
What made Father Raya’s ministry so remarkable was not only his boldness but his love. He met hatred with forgiveness and refused to let fear or violence keep him from his mission. Even when beaten and threatened, he answered with words of compassion, inspiring those around him to see Christ in every person. His witness left a lasting imprint on Birmingham and on the life of the Church, showing what it means to put Catholic social teaching into practice, no matter the cost.
In 1968, Father Raya was named Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth, and All Galilee. There, too, he carried his passion for justice and peace, becoming a voice for reconciliation between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and for the dignity of both Arabs and Jews. He led peaceful demonstrations, fasted before the Knesset, and worked tirelessly for those who had been displaced. His efforts earned him worldwide recognition, including a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Whether in Alabama or the Middle East, Archbishop Raya’s ministry was marked by the same truth: every human person is made in the image of God and deserves to be treated with love and dignity.
Father Frank
Archimandrite Frank J. Milienewicz, beloved pastor emeritus of St. George Melkite Greek-Catholic Church in Birmingham, Alabama, fell asleep in the Lord on the evening of Wednesday, December 11, 2019, at the age of 72. Born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on June 30, 1947, he was the only child of the late Frank and Anna Milienewicz. Father Frank received his Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from St. Paul's College in Washington, D.C., and studied theology at St. Basil Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. Father Frank was ordained to the priesthood on February 29, 1976, and was elevated to the high dignity of archimandrite by Bishop John Elia on the 30th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. Father Frank faithfully served parishes of the Melkite Church in America for over 40 years. He served as administrator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Wooster, Massachusetts (1976-1981), and as pastor of St. George in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (1981-1986), St. Joseph in Lansing, Michigan (1987-1988), and St. George in Birmingham, Alabama (1988-2017). During such time, he also served in numerous positions for the Diocese, including the College of Consulting, the Personnel Board, Proto Presbyters of Southern Region, the Insurance Council and as a Spiritual Advisor for the National Association of Melkite Youth (NAMY). After retiring on his 70th birthday in 2017, Frank Frank continued to serve as pastor emeritus and attend divine services at St. George Church as his health permitted.
Fr. Deacon Seraphim
On Oct. 2, 2022, Father Deacon Seraphim John Alan Ritchey died after a brief and sudden illness. Father Deacon Ritchey was born on Sept. 15, 1954, in Birmingham. He was the fifth of seven boys born to Phillip and Catherine Ritchey. He married Annette Marie Zarzaur in 1974 and shared a bountiful life with her for the next 48 years. Although he was a Renaissance man, immensely creative, talented, and skilled, his real joy was serving his Church as a deacon.
He was ordained as Father Deacon Seraphim in 1988 at St. George Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, where he faithfully served for 34 years. In his service as a deacon, he tirelessly ministered to the sick, took Holy Communion to homebound parishioners, and visited those in nursing homes and hospitals. Through this ministry, he met someone destined to become a very special part of his life: Jimmy Watkins, whom Father Deacon and his wife took into their home and cared for full-time for the past 14 years. Watkins became an absolute part of the family, and Father Deacon Seraphim and Annette counted it a true blessing to serve Christ through caring for Watkins with the same love and attention as they gave their own children.
As a family friend said, Father Deacon Seraphim “was the embodiment of what it means to be an image of Jesus Christ on this earth.” He lived by the words, “Seek the image of Christ in everyone, and the mercy of Christ in everything.”
Fr. Deacon Stan
Fr. Deacon Stan Cholewinski fell asleep in the arms of the Lord Saturday, August 28th, 2011. He was ordained to the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh at SS Cyril and Methodius seminary on November 16th, 2003. During his deaconate, he proudly served the parish community of Saint George Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Birmingham for 8 years.
Deacon Stan served his country in the United States Air Force. Later, he was Scoutmaster and Chaplain for Boy Scout troops 335 and 226, earning entry into the Order of the Arrow.
Fr. Deacon Stan was a man of strong faith & conviction, and was a loving, kind, caring, compassionate husband, father, grandfather, brother, and Godfather. Although he is in a place with no pain, no grief, and no dying, he will be greatly missed by all who loved him.
Clergy Past and Present
Pastors
Rt. Rev. Economos Nicholas Medawar, B.C., 1921 - 1925
Priest-Monk Joseph Kandalaft, B.S., 1925 - 1927
Priest-Monk Lavrentios Sawaya, B.C. 1927 - 1932
Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Andrew Hallack, B.C. 1932 - 1945
Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Michel Bardaouil, 1946 - 1952
His Grace, Archbishop Joseph Raya, 1952 - 1968
Rev. Father Allen Maloof, 1968 - 1969
Rev. Father Badie Essa, 1969 - 1971
Priest-Monk John J. K. Nassar, B.S. 1971 -1973
Rev. Father Salim Faddoul, 1973 - 1976
Rev. Father August Deasio, 1976 - 1981
Rev. Father Mark Melone, 1981 - 1985
Rev. Father Lawrence G. Gosselin, 1985 - 1988
Rt. Rev. Frank J. Milienewicz, 1988 - 2017
Rev. Father Justin Rose, 2017 - Present
Associate Pastors
Priest-Monk Vincent Sheppard, O.S.B., 1961
Rev. Father Yohanan Orlowsky, 1961 - 1963
His Grace Bishop Mark Forsberg of Fort Lauderdale, 1964 - 1965
Priest-Monk Damon Geiger, O.Ss.T., 1978 - 1979
Rev. Father Mark Melone, 1979 - 1981
Deacons
Fr. Deacon Seraphim Ritchey, 1988 - 2022
Fr. Deacon Stan Cholewinski, 2003 - 2011
Fr. Deacon Andrew Baroody, 2015 - Present
Fr. Deacon Robert Klesko, 2023 - Present