Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

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Published on Saturday, 14 July 2018
Bahrain: Our Lady Cathedral to become the heart of the Catholic community in Arabia
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Construction, which began with the ground-breaking ceremony, is set to last until 2021. Once completed, it will be the reference point for the community of northern Arabia. In addition to the church, it will have a residential area for the episcopal curia, a guest house and educational facilities. A time capsule was placed in its foundations with the history of the local Church and Christians.

The Church of Bahrain and the Gulf recently celebrated the formal start of the construction of the new cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, patron saint of the Arabian Peninsula.

The new place of worship, which will meet the needs of the local Christian community composed mainly of economic migrants and seasonal workers, includes a multifunctional centre that can host social, educational and cultural events.

Situated some 20 km from the capital, Manama, the compound will have a church. It will be connected to a building that will be the home to the episcopal curia and include a guest house, educational and pastoral outreach facilities as well as administrative offices.

The land was donated by the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The ground-breaking ceremony was held on 10 June and construction should be completed by the end of 2021.

The cathedral, under the patronage of Our Lady of Arabia, will be a concrete testimony of the Christian presence in one of the most powerful monarchies of the mostly Muslim Gulf and region.

As the country’s second place of Christian worship, the cathedral will be able to accommodate up to 2,000 people and will serve as the see of the Church for the northern Persian Gulf.

The inauguration ceremony, with the laying of the first stone, was a time of celebration for the whole community that gathered to hear the Gospel, followed by a brief moment of prayer.

The service was attended by priests and laity, believers and high-ranking dignitaries, including the ambassadors of France and Italy, as well as a representative of the King of Bahrain.

The Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr Francisco Montecillo Padilla, the Vicar of northern Arabia Mgr Camillo Ballin and Christians from Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were also present.

According to local sources, the project is due to the faith and perseverance of the local community, whose members put aside money for the construction. At present, more fund raising is needed to meet building costs.

For local Catholics, mostly immigrants, often victims of harassment, discrimination and hardships, the construction of a cathedral with its associated centre is a source of pride and satisfaction.

The first Catholics, who number about 80,000 out of a total of 1.5 million inhabitants (10 per cent Christians), came originally from Iraq and Iran.

With the oil boom, hundreds of thousands of other Christians came from Sri Lanka, India, Lebanon, the Philippines and several Western countries.

At Christmas and Easter, the churches of Bahrain also welcome Christians from Saudi Arabia, where every religion other than Islam is banned.

The Kingdom is also home to Jewish and Hindu communities.

Bahrain's King Hamad met Pope Francis on May 19, 2014 at the Vatican and presented the Holy Father with a red box containing a scale model of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, which will be the largest Catholic church in the Persian Gulf.

Driving this positive trend are the increased numbers of guest workers who are Christian, primarily from the Philippines and India, and initiatives by wealthy rulers to open up the region to the world.

Rise of Churches

Because Christians in most of the Arabian Gulf countries are increasing in number, the main challenge is providing places of worship, and a diverse Mass schedule, says Bishop Ballin, who is based in Bahrain.

"In northern Arabia, we live in a totally other ambience," Bishop Ballin told the Register.

In 2008, King Hamad met with Pope Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, and he invited the Holy Father to visit his country.

A few months later, he sent Bahrain’s first ambassador to the Holy See (although the country established diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 2000). The Pope asked the Bahraini ambassador for help in establishing more churches for the growing Catholic immigrant population, and the King agreed, eventually donating 2.2 acres of land south of the country’s capital, Manama, upon which the new cathedral will be built.

Construction on the new cathedral dedicated to Mary will start in October and be completed in three to five years, at a cost of $30 million. Funds are being raised through Northern Arabia Catholic Faith Services and Aid to the Church in Need.

It will likely serve Catholics not only from Bahrain, but also those living in Saudi Arabia, who cross a 15-mile causeway to attend Mass.

In contrast, Bahrain was the first country in the Arabian Gulf to authorize a Catholic church: Sacred Heart Church opened in 1939.