interwiki, renameuser, Administrators
13,552
edits
Changes
corrected birth year
[[Image:Thomas Joseph.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Bp. Thomas of Oakland and the East]]
His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop '''Thomas (Joseph) of Oakland and the East''' (b. 19531952) is a [[diocese|diocesan]] [[bishop]] of the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]].
==Life==
Of Arab-American heritage, Thomas Joseph was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 19531952. He attended John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, graduating in 1970. He went on to college at William Paterson College, graduating in 1974. After college, he worked in the Department of Community Improvements in Paterson, then served as a teacher for the Paterson Board of Education. When the [[Antiochian Village]] camp opened in the late 1970s, he was recruited by Fr. John Namie to serve as one of the original camp counselors from 1979 to 1982.
In the fall of 1979, Thomas began part-time study at [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary]], and was made a [[subdeacon]] by [[Metropolitan]] [[Philip (Saliba) of New York]] in July of 1982. He continued his studies until the spring of 1983, when he was assigned to Virgin Mary Church in Yonkers, New York.