History
St. Nicholas Greek-Melkite Catholic Mission was founded in 1992 by Bishop Nicholas Samra to serve the seasonal Melkite community of Palm Beach County, Florida. From its humble beginnings in the living room of the Agamie Family, the church has grown to serve over 300 families year-round. By word of mouth that a Melkite Liturgy is being celebrated in Palm Beach County, the Mission quickly grew beyond the capacity of a living room and moved to Emmanuel Catholic Church in 1994. TheMission has made significant progress over the past 16 years despite not having its own facilities and full-time priest.
St. Nicholas’ move to a larger facility proved critical due to the desire of the community to gather after the Liturgy and host social events. These events held after mass on a Sunday evening attract an average of 180 parishioners on a regular basis. It is this sense of community that inspired the St. Nicholas Mission to grow into a Church and invite more people to celebrate the Melkite Liturgy.
The community has remained committed to celebrating the Liturgy every Sunday evening and enjoys a wide range of spiritual and social events including its annual gala. Furthermore, having had the opportunity to witness the success of St. Jude Melkite Church in Miami and its ability to attract parishioners beyond the Melkite heritage, St. Nicholas is confident a similar following will develop in the fast growing Palm Beach County.
In 2003, St. Nicholas Mission established a Parish Council to make directional decisions for the future of the community. This group has been charged with the goal of building a permanent home for the Church and establishing the foundation for the future of the Melkite Catholic religion in Palm Beach County.
The establishment of a Melkite Catholic Church in Delray Beach will allow the St. Nicholas community to achieve its goal as a religious entity to serve its children, youth, adults and senior parishioners by attending not only to their spiritual needs, but also to their social and educational needs.
St. Nicholas Church
Address : 5715 Lake Ida Road
Delray Beach, FL 33484
Website : www.stnicholasmelkite.org
E-mail : parish@stnicholasmelkite.org
SaintNicholasCatholicChurch@gmail.com
Phone : (561) 499-3161
Rev. Fr. Gabriel Ghanoum