Location

In 1964 the first Portuguese-speaking parish was founded in the Netherlands in Haarlem. This parish arose from a need of the Portuguese immigrant workers of that time to be able to attend a service in their own language and to have a place to express their own ethno-cultural traditions within the Catholic faith. Portuguese migrants have long dominated the Portuguese-speaking migrant group in numbers, but as the years went by more Brazilians and Cape Verdeans also moved to the Netherlands.

 

In 1989 the Portuguese-speaking migrants founded their first own church building in Amsterdam: the ‘allochtonenmissie de Nossa Senhora de Fátima’ ('allochthonous mission of Our Lady of Fátima'). In the beginning, the church was also a place where people could come to get help with housing, juridical cases, seeking medical help and integration in the Dutch society. Socialising outside of religious services is still an important aspect of this parish.

 

The small entrance of the church is situated in a row of houses next to a canal in Amsterdam West. The address is Jacob Catskade 11.