By Paula Day

Catholics of the Eastern-rite Melkite parish in Atlanta are mourning the loss of their spiritual leader, Archbishop Ignatius Ghattas. The archbishop died October 11 at the Cleveland clinic where he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

The 71-year-old prelate was head of the Melkite Diocese of Newton, Massachusetts, which covers the entire United States.

"We, his friends, are very, very depressed," said Monsignor William Haddad, pastor of St. John's Melkite Church in Atlanta. "It is a great loss to our church, but we accept it as the will of God."

Archbishop Ghattas' cancer was diagnosed less than a year ago and at the time Monsignor Haddad said he was "very, very distressed" at the news. The two men were close in age and members of the same religious community, the Order of St. Basil, who are known as the Salvatorian Fathers. Their friendship dates back to seminary days in Lebanon.

"The Lebanese here who knew him, loved and respected him," Monsignor Haddad said. "He has distant relatives here in the parish." Archbishop Ghattas visited Atlanta in 1991 during the 32nd National Melkite Convention.

His successor will be appointed by the Melkite patriarch, who resides in Lebanon, and the Melkite synod in consultation with Rome. The patriarch has independent authority to make such appointments in the East, but he consults with Rome in deference to the more populous Latin-rite church here.

Archbishop Ghattas was interred October 17 at St. Basil Seminary Cemetery in Methuen, Massachusetts, after a funeral liturgy at Annunciation Melkite Cathedral in nearby Roslindale. Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston and Cardinal James Hickey of Washington, D.C., were present for the Sacred Liturgy.

Melkite Catholics in the Unites States number 23,000. In Georgia the Melkite community gathers for worship at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church in Augusta and St. John Chrysotom in Atlanta.