Ground-breaking for Qatar’s second purpose-built Christian church will take place next month, the Anglican chaplain of Doha, the Rev Canon Bill Schwartz, reports.Built on land donated by Emir Amir Hamad bin Al Thani, the Church of the Epiphany will house all of Qatar’s Protestant Christians.
On March 15 over 15,000 people attended the first mass at Qatar’s first Roman Catholic Church, Our Lady of the Rosary.
Christians account for approximately 10 per cent of Qatar’s 800,000 residents --- almost all of whom are foreign workers from the Philippines and India.
While public Christian worship has been held in the Persian Gulf country for almost 80 years, the two new buildings are the first purpose-built Christian churches in the emirate in the modern era. The Church of the Epiphany, whose construction is being coordinated by the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, will cost of £5 million, has been designed as a “complex” of worshipping spaces rather than as a “single room,” Canon Schwartz explained.
“We do have the main building, but off to the side of that will be a number of other meeting rooms, where different groups will be able to worship simultaneously, without disturbing each other,” he told the Gulf Times.
“The building work has been divided into three stages, with the first set to be completed by summer of next year,” he said.
First to be built will be two worship spaces that can accommodate up to 250 people, classrooms, office space and an apartment. When complete the complex will have facilities to allow nine separate worship services to be held at the same time.
Permitting the construction of Christian churches “is a very significant step for Qatar, and a very encouraging one,” Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said last month in Doha, and is a sign that “Qatar is opening its doors to everyone.”
“It is a very brave decision by the Qatari authorities, and one we are very pleased about,” Dr Howells told a March 29 press conference while visiting the emirate.
Last week the Vatican delivered a diplomatic note from Pope Benedict XVI to the Emir, thanking him for his support and for his work in enhancing Christian–Muslim dialogue.
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