Our Bishop - Sarhad Yawsip Jammo

His Excellency Bishop Sarhad Yawsip Jammo was born Sarhad Jammo in Baghdad on March 14, 1941 . After completing elementary school at St. Joseph Elementary in Baghdad and high school at the Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary in Mosul, he moved to Rome at the age of 17, where he spent the next ten and half years of his life.

Between 1958 and late 1964, he studied at the Pontifical University the Urbaniana, where he earned a Master's Degree in Philosophy and Master's Degree in Theology. He continued his studies at the Pontifical Institute for Eastern Studies where he obtained a Doctorate in Eastern Ecclesiastical Studies with his doctoral dissertation, "The Structure of the Chaldean Mass."

Having completed his studies in Rome , he returned to Baghdad , where he was appointed pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish from 1969 to 1974, during which time a new church building and rectory were built. In 1974, he was appointed rector of the Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary, in which capacity he served until 1977.

It was after his service as rector of the seminary that he came to the United States and was appointed as associate pastor of Mother of God Parish in Southfield , Michigan to serve with Msgr. George Garmo, during which time the new church was built. In September 1980, he was appointed pastor of Mother of God Parish.

After serving in Southfield as pastor for three years, he moved to Troy , Michigan , to become pastor of St. Joseph Church , in which capacity he served for almost twenty years. During his time as pastor, he built a new social hall, a meeting hall, an office building, a new rectory, and a new church building. In 1991, he was assigned as vicar general of the Chaldean Eparchy of the United States .

In addition to his pastoral work, Bishop Sarhad Yawsip never ceased his academic pursuits. From 1977 to 1979 he taught courses in Eastern Liturgies at his Alma Mater, the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

In 1984 and 1985, he taught at the University of Notre Dame, and in 1987 he taught a course at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. Since 1993, he has been appointed professor of Eastern Liturgies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, where he teaches one semester per year. He is the author of numerous publications, particularly on the Aramaic language, its literature, and on the history and liturgy of the Church of the East.

In the civil arena, Bishop Sarhad has been active in advancing Chaldean and Assyrian cultural causes, and especially in expressing and clarifying the Assyro-Chaldean historic identity. In 1981, he acted as the principal founder of the Chaldean Federation of America. He also co-founded the Chaldean Voice radio program and enriched the Chaldean American Youth Club with several new activities.

In 1990, he founded the Chaldean Academy , an organization pursuing Chaldean arts and literature, through which he produced his musical play "Between the Tigris and the Euphrates " in 2001.

Perhaps Bishop Sarhad Yawsip's most significant contributions in the ecclesial arena have been in the areas of liturgical renewal and reunification with the Church of the East. In the area of liturgy, he has pioneered the ceremonial, architectural, and iconographic articulation of the Chaldean ritual.

He has also made a genuine mark in his promotion of Chaldean liturgical music, in his development of existing melodies, his composition of new melodies, and his formation of the St. Joseph Choir. In the area of reunification with the Church of the East, he has also made his mark. In 1979, he became a member of the Consultation Committee of the Catholic Conference of Bishops, in the dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

His work toward unity was a contributing factor leading to the 1994 Joint Christological Declaration between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church. Following this, in 1995, he was appointed as a member of the Mixed Committee for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, and on August 14, 1997 he was made Co-Secretary General of the Joint Committee for Unity between the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

His work in these committees helped lead to the 2001 Holy See document Guidelines for Intercommunion between the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.