Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton (in Latin: Eparchia Neotoniensis Graecorum Melkitarum) is an ecclesiastical territory of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a Byzantine rite Eastern Church within the Catholic Church. The eparchy is named for Newton, Massachusetts, and encompasses the entire United States. There are, however, currently about fifty Melkite parishes, missions, and "outreaches," in about two dozen states. History Early immigration The first large wave of Melkite immigration from the Middle East to the United States took place in the late 19th century, and the first American Melkite Catholic church was established in the 1890s. Because there was no diocesan structure for Melkite Catholic faithful in the United States at the time, Melkite parishes were individually under the jurisdiction of the local Latin Church diocesan bishop. Apostolic exarchate As the Melkite Catholic presence in the United States reached 70 years, to serve the faithful the Holy See erected an apostolic exarchate on January 10, 1966, with the title Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Melkite).<ref>vatican.va, AAS 58 (1966), n. 8, S. 563f.</ref> Archmandrite Justin Najmy (1898–1968), pastor of St. Basil the Great Church then in Central Falls, Rhode Island, (the parish is now in Lincoln, Rhode Island), was appointed as the first Exarch by Pope Paul VI on January 27, 1966. After Bishop Najmy's death in 1968, Archbishop Joseph Tawil, the Patriarchal Vicar of Damascus, was appointed Najmy's successor in October 1969, in a procedure the Patriarch described as a compromise. Eparchy On June 28, 1976, the Exarchate was elevated to the status of an eparchy.vatican.va with the title Eparchy of Newton, and Archbishop Tawil became the first Eparch. Later immigration While the descendants of the earlier waves of Melkite immigrants to the U.S. became increasingly assimilated into American culture, the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries saw, for a variety of reasons (e.g., economic, sectarian), new waves of Melkite immigrants hailing from traditional Middle-eastern homelands. Additionally, within the U.S., many older generations of Melkites began to retire and moving to Sun Belt states. These two phenomena help account for the growth of new Melkite missions and "outreaches." In some well established Melkite parishes new waves of immigrants saw a resurgence in Arabic, over English, as the primary liturgical language. Structure The seat of the Eparchy is Our Lady of the Annunciation Cathedral in the West Roxbury section of Boston. The main