By Annemieke Van Noort

QATAR'S first Catholic Church will be consecrated in the presence of thousands of members of the Christian community in this country. Bishop Paul Hinder, the Abu Dhabi based Vicar Apostolic of Arabia, will host the event, which will attract international media attention. Prominent officials from the Vatican as well as the Qatari government are invited to the consecration.

The Catholic Church is not the only Christian place of worship to be established in Qatar.

The Qatari government has granted a plot of land to the Christian community in Abu Hamour, which will be shared by five parties, the Catholic Church being the largest. Other parts of the land will be reserved for places of worship for the Anglicans, the Egyptian Coptics, the Greek Orthodox and the Interdenomination Church of India (IDCC).

The construction of the large modern Catholic Church, with a sitting capacity of 2,000 and facilities such as a clergy house, a catechetical centre and meeting halls will cost around $15 million.

On the March 15, some 4,000-5,000 people are expected to be present at the consecration of the church. It's clear that a lot of people want to be part of the historic moment. Father Vernacion explains:"There is so much enthusiasm and commitment in our community towards that day. Many would like to be there.

"We have formed a big choir consisting of 140 people who will perform at the ceremony and all countries represented in the parish will be acknowledged. Up till now we've listed over 50 countries already."

Historical perspective
With the discovery of oil and the resulting job opportunities, Christian expatriate workers started moving in to the region.

At this moment a large portion of the expatriate community in Qatar consists of Christians, especially Filipinos, Indians, Europeans and Americans, but also Arab nationals from countries like Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

The first church in the Gulf was constructed in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, in 1939. Abu Dhabi's first church was established in 1965, whereas Dubai got its in 1967 and Oman followed in 1977.

According to the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia, based in Abu Dhabi, the first permanent presence of a priest in Qatar began in 1970. Eight years later the Christian population in Qatar was first counted and comprised 5, 000 people.
The priest at that time conducted services not only in Doha, but also in Dukhan (the oil centre) and Umm Saieed (refinery). Services were held in private homes as it was impossible to have a church at that time. In 1990, a parish centre was established in a villa near Rumeilah hospital.

A children's choir, altar services and liturgical ministries were progressively introduced into the parish. In 2001 the parish centre moved to the Ras Abou Aboud area, where it still operates. It comprises a hall and about eleven cabins that serve as offices and classrooms for catechism, and residences for the priests. In 2003, the Parish was officially dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

In the same year, Qatar appointed its first ambassador accredited to the Holy See (The Vatican).

In response, on April 20, 2004, the government received Archbishop Giuseppe De Andrea, the Holy See's first ambassador to Qatar (residing in Kuwait).

In 2004, the Qatari government granted a piece of land for the construction of the first church in Qatar. It has taken years since then before plans were made final and enough money was raised to bring about the construction of the church.

Christianity in Qatar

The parish centre at Ras Abou Aboud at this moment has seven priests and four out-stations where masses are held: Umm Saieed, Dukhan, Al-Khor and Ras Laffan. All traditional spiritual activities are regularly conducted in the parish of Doha.

It's clear that the present location does not meet the demand. Exact numbers are not present but Father Tom Veneracion estimates the Christian community in Qatar to be around 100,000 at this moment. Among these are people that speak different languages and follow different rites. Rites refer to groups who share the same manner of performing services for the worship of God and the sanctification of the faithful. "The majority of our Catholics follow the Latin-rite, but we also have two Indian Eastern-Rite Churches: the Syro-Malabar and the Syro-Malayalam Church (from Kerala)," says Father Tom Vernacion.

"Apart from that, we also have believers from Arab speaking Eastern Rite Churches such as the Melkites and Maronites."
    

Because of the diversity in language and rites groups, masses are held about 56 times a week throughout the country. Masses are held in English, Tagalog, Italian, French, Arabic, Indian languages and Sinhala. The new church will host services for all rites groups.

The new church will not bear any Christian symbols on the outside of the building. "We want to show respect to the people of Qatar. But naturally, inside the building the symbols will be there," explains Father Tom.

He feels that the Christian community in Qatar is free to worship as they wish within their own church.

"We feel we're also being treated with respect. The Qatari government is encouraging inter-religious dialogue," he says, referring to the fact that the Qatari government has been organising an annual inter-faith dialogue conference since 2003, bringing together religious scholars and leaders from prominent religions in the world.

One of the aims of the conference is to focus on the Islam-Christian dialogue by finding common grounds of tolerance and understanding between the different religions.

"People are becoming increasingly aware of the diversity of religions in this country and the region as a whole and realise that it is possible that we can co-exist in peace."

This peaceful coexistence of religions is certainly endorsed by the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia, which states that "all of us, whether it be priests, nuns or lay-people, will have one will and desire: to offer, joyfully, witness to being Christians, with the utmost respect for the values and feelings of the people in a spirit of brotherhood".