Qatar ‘s Church City to host more places of worship
ICC Note
“It’s a tremendous feeling of relief that we can breathe, worship, and pray in a place without fear and without disturbance.”
By Caryle Murphy
02/09/2009 Qatar (Gulfnews.com)-When the Reverend Tomasito Veneracion arrived in Qatar seven years ago, his Roman Catholic parishioners prayed in small groups scattered in apartments, schools, and one tiny makeshift chapel. At Easter, Indian Catholics gathered in one place, Filipinos in another, Arabs in yet another.
But with last year’s opening of Our Lady of the Rosary Church , his congregants for the first time had a recognised, central place to worship. On Christmas Eve, 15,000 attended a midnight mass, with those who couldn’t cram into the 2,700-seat church watching on video screens outside.
“When I first came here, the church was not recognised. But now we are enjoying this gift,” Father Veneracion says. “It’s a tremendous feeling of relief that we can breathe, worship, and pray in a place without fear and without disturbance.”
