On Thursday, December 16, a civil ceremony was held to mark the opening of the Church of St. John the Baptist in the UAE city of Ruwais, just a week after the inauguration of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Bahrain. The church was built on a plot of land in the Al-Ruwais residential complex donated by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Ibn Zayed Al-Nahyan and the monarch’s representative in Al-Dhafra. The event was held in the presence of Sheikh Hamdan Ibn Zayed Al-Nahyan.

Located about 240 km west of Abu Dhabi, this is the first Catholic church in the Al-Dhafra region, which borders Qatar. It will cater mostly to about 600 immigrant families from other Asian nations who live and work in Ruwais.

The church has capacity for about 800 people, while a multipurpose conference room on the second floor can hold almost 1,000.

A statue of the Virgin Mary and a crucifix made for the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi during his historic 2019 trip to the Gulf have been placed inside the church.

The first Mass was held on Friday, December 17, and presided by Monsignor Paul Hinder, vicar apostolic of southern Arabia (the UAE, Oman and Yemen) and apostolic administrator sede vacante of northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain).

The parish priest is the Rev. Thomas Ampattukuzhy, who has overseen the project and construction work since the laying of the foundation stone that was blessed by Hinder on December 30, 2018.

According to Vatican media, on the eve of the inauguration, the ecclesiastical leaders of the region expressed their gratitude and thanks to the UAE royal family. They emphasized the spirit of “tolerance, fraternity and solidarity” that have long have been the guidelines of the policy of the Emirates.

The Catholic community in the Roweis area includes about 2,500 people, “mostly Filipinos and Indians, the latter come mainly from Kerala, but there are also Koreans and others from different countries”. The industrial and residential complex of Ruwais represents an emblematic example of how urban centers are born in the Emirates, and also in other countries of the Arabian Peninsula.