Msgr. Assad N. Awad, 91, pastor Our Lady of Mercy

Msgr. Assad N. Awad, 91, died Feb. 24 in Lebanon, according to an announcement from the Maronite Chancery of the Eparchy of St. Maron, Brooklyn. Msgr. Awad was pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Maronite Catholic Parish in Worcester from 2000-2009. Our Lady of Mercy is part of the Eparchy of St. Maron.
Msgr. Awad was born in 1932, in Mar Mema, Lebanon, the oldest of 10 children of Nassib and Marie Awad.
He graduated from the minor seminary of St. Maron in Ghazir, Lebanon, in 1950, and from St. Joseph University of Beirut in 1957. He was ordained a priest on May 30, 1957, at St. Joseph University by then-Bishop (later a patriarch and cardinal) Antoine Khoraiche, and elevated to monsignor by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s.
Msgr. Awad served at St. Nohra Maronite Church in Beirut from 1957-1964. He emigrated to the United States in 1964 and became an American citizen in 1969.
In the U.S. he was pastor of St. George Maronite Parish in San Antonio, Texas, from 1964-1966; St. Elias Maronite Parish in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1966-1969 and 1972-1997; St. Ann Maronite Parish in Scranton, Pennsylvania, from 1969-1972; and Our Lady of Mercy from Feb. 9, 2000, until he retired at age 75 on June 1, 2009.
 From 1997-2000 he helped with liturgy and formation of seminarians at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C. While there he wrote a book about the eucharistic prayers of the Maronite Liturgy.
In 2007, for his 50th anniversary of ordination he received an award from the president of Lebanon, General Emile Lahoud, presented at Union Station in Worcester by Ibrahim Hanna, honorary consul of Lebanon in Boston. The award honored his work for the cause of Lebanon and the help he provided to Lebanese people who immigrated to the U.S. after the Lebanese civil war in 1975.
Msgr. Awad spent his final years in Lebanon. He was preceded in death by his parents, and leaves siblings and their families.
His funeral was Feb. 26 in Mar Mema, his village, with Bishop Mounir Khairallah, bishop of Batroun, Lebanon, presiding.
A Divine Liturgy was offered Sunday at Our Lady of Mercy for Msgr. Awad’s soul, according to Father Alex Joseph, pastor.
Father Joseph noted the congregation also prayed for the soul of Chorbishop Joseph Saidi, who was pastor there from late 1947-1998 and died in 2008 at age 98.