Posted on 12/29/2021 5:33:57 PM PST by marshmallow
A new opportunity for Gulf Catholics to celebrate after the cathedral in Bahrain. The parish of St. John the Baptist in Ruwais has a capacity for 800 and upstairs a multipurpose center with a capacity for one thousand. Mass will be celebrated every night of the week, three on Fridays. A point of reference for the region's 2,500 faithful, most of whom are migrants.
Abu Dhabi (AsiaNews) - Having recently archived the celebrations for the inauguration - in the presence of the Prefect of Propaganda Fide Card. Luis Antonio Tagle - of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Bahrain, the Catholics of the southern vicariate are preparing to consecrate another place of worship: the Church of St John the Baptist in Ruwais, about 240 km west of Abu Dhabi.
The civil ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow in the presence of secular and religious, Muslim and Christian authorities, while the first mass will be held on December 17. The solemn Eucharistic service will be presided over by Msgr. Paul Hinder, vicar apostolic of southern Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen) and apostolic administrator sede vacante of northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain).
According to vicariate sources contacted by AsiaNews, the inauguration is scheduled for tomorrow at 6 am in the presence of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, representing the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The church stands on a plot of land donated by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the monarch's representative in the al-Dhafra region, in the a-Ruwais residential complex.
The parish priest is Capuchin Fr. Thomas Ampattukuzhy, who has overseen the project and construction work in recent years since the laying of the foundation stone blessed by Msgr. Hinder on Dec. 30, 2018. In addition to a daily mass..............
(Excerpt) Read more at asianews.it ...
Prayers that everyone can worship safely in that beautiful new building.
With those walls it looks pretty well defended.
But kudos to the nation of Bahrain. There are very few governments in the Middle East that would take the risk, or want to.
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