Kassab was born in
Tel Keppe,
Iraq, to an
Assyrian family. He was ordained a
priest on 19 January 1961. Following 35 years of service in the
priesthood, he was elevated to the
episcopate by the then
Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans,
Mar Raphael I Bidawid. Upon his installation, his first post was
Archeparc of Basra. Following the difficult plight of Iraq's Chaldean
Christians during the
Iraq War,
Pope Benedict XVI transferred Kassab to a safer area and created the
Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney to cover all of Australia and New Zealand; he installed Kassab as its eparch in 2006. ==References==