Jaffa of Nazareth Parish
Jaffa of Nazareth is an Arab town located in Lower Galilee, Israel. It forms part of the metropolitan area of Nazareth, also an Arab locality. Declared a local council in 1960, it had a population of 16,900 in 2006, approximately 70% were Muslim and 30% Christian. There are four churches in the old city honoring the traditional birthplace of Saint James (James, son of Zebedee) who was one of the Apostles of Jesus, a fisherman by trade along with his brother John. The Christians in Jaffa belong to three denominations: 1) the Latin parish, founded by the Franciscans Friars in 1641, has a membership of 1,200. 2) The Greek Melkite Parish, founded in the first half of the last century, has approximately 400 members. 3) The Greek Orthodox parish, founded in 1910, numbers 2,000 persons.
Infrastructures of the Latin Patriarchate
In 1865, some of the faithful in Jaffa of Nazareth asked Patriarch Valerga to send a missionary to their village. In 1869, the Patriarch received custody of the mission and appointed as parish priest Father Luigi Fattori, who built a small church and convent in 1872. In 1888, another church was built there. The Rosary Sisters joined the parish in 1885 to supervise the school. One of them was Mother Marie-Alphonsine Ghattas, (now Saint Marie Alphonsine), foundress of the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters. During recent years, there have been many developments in the situation of the village. The Latin Patriarchate parish in Jaffa of Nazareth has a church and a school, which was established in 1879. The school holds a center for socio-education activities for the youth, like: a football team, a group of folkloric dance and manual labor.
