Dubai, October 03: On the edge of the city, amid a wilderness of scrubland and construction activities, sits a place of worship that is visited by thousands every week.
On the fringes of Jebel Ali Village, seven churches are housed in what appears to be a fortified building. Here Catholics, Protestants and Jacobites put aside their differences to make the most of the facility provided by the government.
Father Eugene Mattioli, a priest at St. Francis of Assisi Church, said that although the dominations were in such close proximity, there have been no attempts to convert other church’s followers. “We don’t have what some people call sheep-stealing,” he said.
“We are all part of a Christian family here and every church teaches people to be good.”
Around 7,000 people come to St Francis’ every week, Mattioli said, to attend sometimes up to 36 services.
The churches sit opposite a ramshackle labour accommodation and are surrounded by haggard shrubs, the odd crane, and miles of wasteland. The first church to arrive there was the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, in 1999, followed by the Catholic church, St. Francis of Assisi, in 2001. The land was originally donated to the Christian community by the Dubai Government, who Mattioli applauds for their tolerance. “We are very grateful for what they have given us,” he said. Mattioli, who has been a priest for 52 years, has lived in the UAE for 51 years. The 78-year-old Italian, on whose bookshelf rest books on Opus Dei, said the church does its best to cater to its diverse community. “Some days we have services in Tamil and Tagalog, but mostly it’s just in English,” he said. Christians make up 15 per cent of the population of the UAE, compared to 76 per cent Muslim, according to a US State Department report in 2007. Traditionally Christians tend to go to church on Sunday, but Mattioli found that the largest number attend the masses on Fridays. “For many it is the only day they have off,” he said. “In the UAE, we celebrate Sunday across the whole weekend.”
–Agencies