Rev. Msgr. Michael A. Souckar
Adjunct Professor of Law
Email: msouckar@stu.edu
Mail:
St. Thomas University College of Law
Faculty Suite (209)
16401 NW 37th Ave
Miami Gardens, FL 33054
Education:
B.A., Saint John Vianney College Seminary
M. Theol., Saint Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary
M.Div., Saint Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary
J.C.L., The Catholic University of America
J.C.D., Pontifical Gregorian University
Rev. Msgr. Michael A. Souckar
Monsignor Michael A. Souckar is Pastor of Saint Andrew Parish in Coral Springs and Adjutant Judicial Vicar of the Archdiocese of Miami. His education and formation for the priesthood began in 1980 when he entered Saint John Vianney College Seminary where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1984. He then attended Saint Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Theology and a Master of Divinity in 1988.He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami by Archbishop Edward McCarthy on May 21, 1988. Arising from his Syrian ancestry, Monsignor Souckar is a member of the Melkite Catholic Church.
Following several parish assignments, Monsignor Souckar was assigned to graduate studies and earned a Licentiate in Canon Law from The Catholic University of America in Washington in 1994 and a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2012. He served for twelve years as the priest-secretary to the Archbishop of Miami (1998-2010) and for seven years as Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Miami (2003-2010). He has been a member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, Presbyteral Council, Priests’ Personnel Board, Incardination Committee, and College of Consultors. He has held several offices – including that of defender of the bond and judge – in the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Miami, the Maronite Eparchial Tribunal of Saint Maron, and the Melkite Eparchial Tribunal of Newton.
In 2001, he was named Chaplain to His Holiness by Pope Saint John Paul II and in 2007 Pope Benedict XVI named him Prelate of Honor. In 2002, he was granted the title of Archimandrite by the Most Reverend John Elya, Eparch of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton.
Monsignor Souckar has been a member of the Canon Law Society of America since 1992 and has served on several committees. In 2014 he was elected President of the CLSA and served on the Board of Governors for three years. He has published several articles in canon law, the most recent being entitled “Reception into Full Communion of those in Irregular Marriages: Pastoral Realities and a Canonical Solution”.
