Jibrail Kassab Cleric
Archbishop Jibrail Kassab is a prelate of the Chaldean Catholic Church who presides over the Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney in Australia. He has been the bishop of this diocese since its inception on 21 October 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales. Archbishop Kassab was born in Tel Keppe, Iraq on 5 August 1938 to an Assyrian family. He was ordained a priest on 19 January 1961. Following 35 years of faithful service to the priesthood, he was elevated to the episcopacy by the then Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Mar Raphael I Bidawid. Upon his installation, his first post was to serve as archbishop of the Archeparchy of Basra. Following the difficult plight of Iraq's Assyrian Christians during the Iraq War, Pope Benedict XVI was compelled to transfer Bishop Kassab to a safer area. He created a much needed diocese in Sydney that would cover all of Australia and New Zealand and would install Archbishop Kassab as its head prelate, a post he still holds today.