Macram Max Gassis
{{Short description|Roman Catholic prelate (1938–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Bishop
| honorific-prefix = His Excellency
| name = Macram Max Gassis
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| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| title = Bishop Emertus of El Obeid
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| archdiocese = Khartoum
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| elected =
| appointed = 12 March 1988
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| quashed =
| term_end = 28 October 2013
| predecessor = Paulino Lukudu Loro
| opposed =
| successor = Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria
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| previous_post =
| ordination = 28 June 1964
| ordained_by = Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
| consecration = 15 May 1988
| consecrated_by = Luis Robles Díaz
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1938|09|21}}
| birth_place = Khartoum, Sudan
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2023|06|04|1938|09|21}}
| death_place = Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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Macram Max Gassis (21 September 1938 – 4 June 2023) was a Sudanese Roman Catholic prelate. He served as bishop of El Obeid from 1988 to 2013.
Early life and education
Gassis was born in Khartoum on 21 September 1938. He attended a school run by missionaries from the Comboni Congregation in his native Khartoum. In the years 1955-1964 he received his philosophical and theological education in Great Britain and Italy in Comboni seminaries. In 1957, he took religious vows. In 1964 he was ordained a priest in Verona. After returning to Sudan, Gassis was a parish vicar in Wad Medani in the central part of the country. He then worked as a pastor in the parishes of Gedaref, Kassala and New Halfa in the eastern part of the country. In 1971 he became chancellor of the diocesan curia. From 1973 to 1983, he was secretary general of the Sudanese Bishops' Conference. In 1979, he earned a degree in canon law and administration from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.{{cite web| url = http://archdioceseofkhartoum.catholicweb.com/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=128439&From=Home| title = H.L. Bishop Macram Max Gassiss| accessdate = 13 November 2011| website = archdioceseofkhartoum.catholicweb.com| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111216154429/http://archdioceseofkhartoum.catholicweb.com/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=128439&From=Home| archive-date = 16 December 2011}}{{cite web | url = http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgassis.html| title =Bishop Macram Max Gassis, M.C.C.I. | accessdate = 13 November 2011| website = www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}
Ministry
From 1983 to 1988, Gassis was the apostolic administrator of Al-Ubayid. On May 15, 1988, he was ordained a bishop and became the Ordinary of the Diocese of Al-Ubayid. As the only Arabic-speaking bishop of the Sudanese Episcopal Conference, he held talks with government officials. The Sudanese government filed an indictment against Gassis after he made a statement to the US Congress in which he informed about crimes committed by the authorities against his own people. For his activities in defense of the Christian population of his country and calling for respect for human rights by the government in Khartoum, Gassis was awarded many prizes. He continued to travel around Europe and North America, asking for help in enforcing human rights in Sudan. He informed the public about the religious persecution of the Christian population, the bombing of human settlements, terrorism, hunger and murders.{{cite web | url =http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBUm1sWvGfI | title = World Over - Sudanese Christians - Raymond Arroyo with Bishop Macram Max Gassis| accessdate = 13 November 2011| website = www.youtube.com| date = 23 June 2010}}{{cite web| url = http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/the_pulse_of_sudan/| title = The Pulse of Sudan| accessdate = 5 November 2011| author = Joan Frawley Desmond| website = www.ncregister.com| date = 7 July 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111029053126/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/the_pulse_of_sudan| archive-date = 29 October 2011}}
Retirement and death
In 2011, Gassis visited Poland on the occasion of the Third Day of Solidarity with the Persecuted Church.{{cite web | url = http://www.pkwp.org/kampanie/sudan._wojna_czy_pokoj/plan_wizyty_bp_macram_max_gassisa/| title = Wstępny plan wizyty ks. bpa Gassisa 11–20 listopada 2011| accessdate = 13 November 2011| website = www.pkwp.org|language =pl}} On 28 October 2013, Pope Francis accepted his resignation due to his retirement age. Gassis was succeeded by Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria.{{cite web|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2013/10/28/0704/01567.html#RINUNCIA%20E%20SUCCESSIONE%20DEL%20VESCOVO%20DI%20EL%20OBEID%20(SUDAN)|title=Rinuncia e Successione del Vescovo di El Obeid (Sudan)|work=Vatican Press|date=28 October 2013|accessdate=23 August 2015|language=it}}
Gassis died in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on 4 June 2023, at the age of 84.{{cite web|url=https://www.aciafrica.org/news/8411/pioneer-catholic-bishop-of-sudans-el-obeid-diocese-dies-in-us-at-84 |title=Pioneer Catholic Bishop of Sudan's El Obeid Diocese Dies in U.S. at 84 |date=5 June 2023 |accessdate=5 June 2023}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
- [https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgassis.html Macram Max Gassis at Catholic Hierarchy]
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef | before=Paulino Lukudu Loro}}
{{s-ttl | title=Bishop of El Obeid|years=1988–2013}}
{{s-aft | after=Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria}}
{{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gassis, Macram Max}}
Category:Sudanese Roman Catholic bishops
Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sudan
Category:21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sudan