JERUSALEM — On May 2, the St. James Vicariate in Jerusalem celebrated its 70th anniversary, marking the first Hebrew-language Catholic Mass ever celebrated in the State of Israel.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the Divine Liturgy alongside Father Piotr Zelazko, a Polish priest who serves as the patriarchal vicar for the vicariate.
In a region where the vast majority of Catholics speak Arabic as their first language, the St. James Vicariate offers Hebrew-speaking Latin Rite Catholics something unique in the Middle East: a spiritual home grounded in Israeli culture that acknowledges the Jewish roots of Christianity.
The community numbers about 1,200 people spread across seven congregations all over Israel. Members include Jewish converts to Catholicism, descendants of Jewish-born Catholics, mixed Jewish-Christian families, migrants and even a small number of Arab Catholic families whose children attend Hebrew-speaking schools. Most of the young people are the Israeli-born children of foreign workers, usually Filipinos.
“The children are culturally Israeli,” Father Zelazko told the Register. “Our vicariate has a very beautiful mixture of various people.”
