Protodeacon Joseph Daratony

The Deacon:

Protodeacon Joseph Daratony served as Temporary Administrator of St Joseph parish from June 2011 to March 2013, when no priest was available to be assigned here.  With his wife, Diakonissa Marge, he kept the parish functioning with Sunday and feast-day services, baptisms, weddings, and funerals, and parish organizations and events.  He now serves the Liturgy and other services when he is able to come to Lansing from his home in New Hudson, 60 miles away.

Deacon Joe was ordained on 15 October 1975 by Archbishop Joseph Tawil, after completing four years in the Deacon Formation Program of the Archdiocese of Detroit and one year of formation in the Eparchy of Newton.  Although his parents were Melkites, Deacon Joe was raised in the Latin Catholic Church and planned to be a Latin-rite deacon.  When he applied for a transfer of church membership, he found that Archbishop Joseph had other plans for him—to ordain him as a Melkite deacon and allow him to serve in the Latin Church also.

Deacon Joe has served in the Melkite parishes of Our Lady of Redemption (Detroit, now Warren), St Michael (Plymouth), and St Joseph (Lansing).  He served in two Latin-rite parishes—Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth and Resurrection in Canton.  He also worked as a chaplain in state correctional facilities for 13 years and for five years as a hospital chaplain at Desert Regional Hospital in Palm Springs, CA.  In 2008, Archbishop Cyril Bustros elevated him to the dignity of Protodeacon.

Joseph Daratony and Marjorie Masamery were married in 1957.  They have five sons, 16 granddaughters, four grandsons, two great-granddaughters, and one great-grandson.

About Father James K. Graham

The Pastor:

Father James K. Graham, M. A., M. Div., is pastor of St Joseph the Betrothed Melkite Greek Catholic Church.  Fr James, a native of California, was ordained priest in November 1993, after studying at St Gregory the Theologian Melkite Seminary in Newton, MA, and receiving the M. Div. with highest honors from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, in May 1993.

From June 1993 to November 1995 he was pastor of St Ann Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Danbury, CT.  From November 1995 to October 2012 he was pastor of St Elias the Prophet Melkite-Greek Catholic Church in San Jose, CA.  In November 2003, he was granted the dignity of Stavrophor (“Cross-bearer”) by Bishop John Elya, Eparch of Newton.  He came to St Joseph Church in Lansing in February 2013 and was appointed pastor on 25 March 2013.

Before starting theological studies, he was a member of St George Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Sacramento, CA, and worked as a technical writer and editor for 12 years.  He also wrote music and book reviews for a community newspaper as well as founding and editing two other alternative newspapers.  In 1976 he earned the M.A. degree in English from California State University, Sacramento.  He graduated in 1971 from Cowell College, University of California, Santa Cruz, with a B.A. in English and American Literature and College Honors.

Father James has contributed to SOPHIA, the Journal of the Melkite-Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton, of which he also is Copy Editor; to Eastern Churches Journal; and to other religious and secular publications.  In San Jose, he led a weekly Bible Study at St John Vianney Roman Catholic parish for 12 years, and was active in the ecumenical pastors’ fellowship in the Alum Rock neighborhood.  From October 2006 until February 2010 he served as presider for the weekly Mass of the Newman Catholic Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz.