His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim, the Melkite Patriarch, during his visit to London in November 1989, was urged by the Council of the Melkite Greek Catholic Association UK to appoint Father Shafiq Abouzayd as a parish priest for the Melkites in London. The patriarch’s immediate response to the suggestion was positive, and Father Shafiq Abouzayd celebrated his first Melkite mass for the Melkites in Greater London on Christmas Day 1989. Meanwhile, His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim informed the local Catholic authority in London about his appointment and requested its permission. His Excellency Cardinal Basil Hume was delighted at this initiative by the Patriarch, and thus he encouraged Father Shafiq in his new mission to found a new Melkite parish in Greater London.
Father Shafiq named the new Melkite parish after Saint John Chrysostom, and his initiative was approved by His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim and His Eminence Cardinal Basil Hume, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.
The work of foundation was very hard in the beginning, for the number of the Melkites in London was very small, about 50 people (including children). We used to celebrate the liturgy on Sunday with no more than 15 people. However, we were all aware that the number of the Melkites is much higher, and some people were talking of at least 200 Melkite people in Greater London. The big challenge to Father Shafiq Abouzayd was to find the lost sheep of his Melkites flock. He started by compiling statistics of his parish and visited each family at home, and people used to lead him to the Melkite families. After four years of hard work, Father Shafiq gathered around him in 1994 about 300 Melkites, including children, a huge increase from 50 in 1989.
The number of Melkites in London has started picking up since 1991, and since 1995 more than 200 people tend to participate in the major events of our Melkite parish, such as Christmas, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. Moreover, more than 50 people have started to attend the Sunday liturgy regularly.
On the other hand, many people were half-heartened and even cold towards the new Melkite parish, and it took Father Shafiq quite a long time to convince some of them to join their Melkite parish, especially as most of them have never been to any oriental or Roman Catholic churches.