The Rev. Fr. Michael J. Bazzi (Emeritus), L.S.T., began pastoring St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Church in El Cajon, San Diego, in 1985. Fr. Michael also served as a professor of modern and classical Aramaic at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon 1989-2021. Fr. Michael is a distinguished Bible authority, author, teacher, linguist, translator, and pastoral counselor. Born in Tilkepe, Iraq, a suburb of Nineveh, he graduated seminary at St. Peter's College, Baghdad, and was ordained into the priesthood in that same year, 1964. He served eight years in Tilkepe, assisting as a priest, speaking his native language of Aramaic, as well as Arabic. He then travelled to the Vatican in Rome where he earned a Master's Degree in Pastoral Theology. While in Italy he gained a broad knowledge of the Italian and French languages. Fr. Michael arrived in Oshkosh - Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1974. Here he taught and preached Scripture from the Aramaic point of view. Later, he established parishes in Oak Park and Troy, Michigan, and in 1983-85, served in Los Angeles, California. Fr. Michael moved to San Diego in 1985. In 1987, he became pastor of St. Peters Church in El Cajon, where he is now pastor emeritus. Fr. Michael was the San Diego Law Enforcement Association's Citizen of the Year in 2010.
