Dn. Issa Rizkallah

Dn. Issa was born on December 10th, 1941 to Saleem and Victoria Rizkallah in the city of Ramallah, Palestine. While Dn. Issa was still a little boy, his father passed away, and the deacon had to drop out of school to support his mother and siblings. In 1967, the 7 Day War between Israel and the Arab nations took place in Palestine in and around Dn. Issa’s town. The 7 Day War was not the only thing that took place in 1967. Dn. Issa was married to his wife, Afaf. They moved to Garden City, Michigan the next year, and had four children, Nancy, Saleem, Samer and Ronnie. On December 12th, 2003, Dn. Issa’s beloved wife Afaf fell asleep in the Lord after a long battle with cancer. As an immigrant to the United States, Dn. Issa worked as a welder as well as made machine parts. He served the church in the capacity of a chanter while working in the world. In 1994, His Grace, Bishop DEMETRI ordained Issa to the Holy Diaconate, assigned him to serve St. Mary’s church in Livonia. Since his ordination in 1994, Dn. Issa has served Fr. George Shalhoub and the faithful of St. Mary’s Church tirelessly. From hospital visitations, to Sunday Liturgies, to various sacraments such as weddings and baptisms, Dn. Issa was, and remains Fr. George’s most valuable help in ministering to the flock of St. Mary’s Basilica.