VANCOUVER -- The appointment of a new bishop for an Eastern Catholic Church is attracting a lot of interest from Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

Fr. Francois Beyrouti, who attended St. Edmund’s Elementary and St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary in North Vancouver, as well as the Seminary of Christ the King, has been named bishop of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton in Massachusetts.

Beyrouti was elected eparchial bishop by the Melkite Greek Catholic Synod in June. Pope Francis approved the election Aug. 20.

The school community of St. Thomas Aquinas was quick to offer its congratulations for the appointment, saying in a Facebook post that the 1989 grad maintains an active role as an alumnus.

“For the past two years, he has provided significant scholarship and summer enrichment opportunities to our current STA Saints,” the post said.

He was awarded a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Ottawa and a doctorate of theology from Saint Paul University in Ottawa. He has taught courses on the Eastern Catholic Churches and Christianity in the Middle East.

Beyrouti was ordained a priest in 1998, the first ever for the eparchy of Saint-Sauveur de Montreal of the Greek-Melkites. He served as deputy parish priest of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Ottawa.

In 2011 he was incardinated in the Eparchy of Newton of the Greek-Melkites, where he was elected member of the Presbyteral Council and appointed as parish priest of the Holy Cross Melkite Catholic Church in Placentia, Calif.

Besides English, he knows French, German and Arabic.

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope. It is based in the Syrian capital of Damascus, but has eparchies in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Venezuela and the United States.

(With files from Catholic News Agency)