Specialties
We are a Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope in the Eastern Maronite tradition. Our Divine Liturgy is performed bilingually in English/Arabic, English/Spanish for all our parishioners and visitors.
Our church is home to the largest shrine dedicated to St Sharbel in North America and is designated a pilgrimage church by His Excellency A. Elias Zaidan, Bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon in Los Angeles, CA.
We invite you to visit our Church and the Shrine of St Sharbel that is open 24 hrs every day to pray, meditate and reflect.
Join us to celebrate of our monthly Healing Mass of St Sharbel and Blessing with Holy Oil on the 18th of every month at 7:00 pm. This uniquely spiritual mass is celebrated in English, Arabic, Aramaic & Spanish. This mass is the only one of its kind in the US.
The Divine Liturgy
Monday - Friday at 8:30am
Saturday in Spanish at 6:00pm
Sunday at 10:00am
History
Established in 1997.
St Joseph Maronite Catholic Church was established in 1997 through the efforts of a small group of Maronite Catholics. Prior to 1997, the Maronite Catholic Church in Phoenix did not exist. Up to this time, Maronite's worshipped at various Roman Catholic parishes around town. Once a month, a Maronite priest would travel to Phoenix to perform Mass in the Easter Rite tradition. This small group of Maronite's organized and together raised the funds to purchase an old Baptist Church that was for sale.
Upon purchasing the church, the Maronite's cleaned up the property and made modifications to the interior of the church to convert it into a proper Catholic Church with an Eastern Rite Altar. Once established, the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon assigned a Maronite priest to the newly created parish.
Since then, the parish has grown and established numerous programs and events to promote the Maronite Catholic faith and Lebanese culture.
Meet the Manager: Father Wissam A.
Since 2014, Father Wissam G Akiki has been the pastor of St Joseph Maronite Catholic Church. Father Akiki came to St Joseph from St Louis, MO where he was ordained into the priesthood in 2014. Following in the centuries old tradition of Eastern Rite Maronite priests', Father Akiki became the first married priest in the USA in 100 years when his ordination into the priesthood was granted approval by his Holiness Pope Francis and his Excellency A. Elias Zaidan, Bishop of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles.
Father Akiki was born in Zahle, Lebanon and recalls that as a small boy he wanted to be a priest or a Captain in the Lebanese Army. In his early devotion to St. Sharbel and through his religious education, Father deemed the priesthood as his true calling.