Bishop Thomas (known as Maurice Shawqī prior to his consecration) was born in 1957 and is the Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of al-Qūsīyah and Mīr in Assīūṭ, Egypt. When he first arrived to al-Qūsīyah, Bishop Thomas had big ideas about changes he wanted to make toward raising his parishioners' sense of dignity. He wanted, and still does, his parishioners to know their own worth, and to not have it given to them-or taken away-by someone else. He aims toward simple improvements by working to raise the dignity of the people in his diocese, a goal that, he says, is partially dependent on economic development