Mideast Dispatches

The sun had barely risen as thousands of cars were bumping their way onto a dusty, unpaved road into the desert, just outside Qatar’s capital, Doha. These were motivated people. They were on their way to witness history.

On this day, the church of Our Lady of the Rosary opened its doors to the public for the first time. It is the first official church to be built in the Gulf country since the advent of Islam in the seventh century. For the 100,000 Catholics who call Qatar home, it was an occasion worthy of celebration.

The oil boom has slowly changed the face of this tiny nation and opened it up to the world. There are more foreigners here than locals, attracted by opportunities unavailable at home, and there are perhaps more Christians here than ever.

“They come from all around the world,” said Philippine native Rev. Tomasito Veneracion, the parish priest who came here six years ago and soon afterwards got down to work planning the new church.

“In fact, we have 70 nations represented in this parish.”

Qatar's Our Lady of the Rosary church is seen on the night of its official opening. (Nahlah Ayed, CBC)

Qatar's constitution guarantees their freedom to practise their religion, in line with early Islamic practice. But for many decades, Christians couldn’t establish an official church here.

A few years ago, Qatar’s maverick ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, made the unilateral decision to change that. He personally donated land to allow Catholics, in addition to other Christian faiths, to build their own churches.

Why now?

At the opening ceremony, Qatar’s deputy prime minister said the country’s decision to open the church would send a positive message to the world about the possibility of coexistence, that just as mosques can be built in the secular West, churches can be built in countries where Islam is dominant.

Qatar has been sponsoring interfaith conferences for several years now, encouraging dialogue between different religions. Allowing churches in the country reinforces that position.

Observers here suggest there’s more to it than that. For some time now, Qatar has sought to differentiate itself from its more conservative neighbour Saudi Arabia, and although it has only a fraction of Saudi’s size and power, it has sought to counter its influence.

• Audio: Nahlah Ayed reports from Qatar (2:22)

The opening of the church also leaves Saudi as the only Gulf country that still doesn’t allow the establishment of churches on its soil.

Qatar is also trying to project an image of modernity, analysts say, especially as it prepares a serious bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

“This is a purely political decision,” says Mehran Kamrava, director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Doha.

“What we see is an attempt to brand the country, project a certain image of the country as forward-thinking, forward-looking, modern, progressive and so of course, having a church is part of the project of modernity.”

No bell, no crosses

Whatever the reason behind the decision, there are detractors. Qatar is, after all, a deeply conservative Muslim country that follows the same strict interpretation of Islam as Saudi Arabia. Many believe that had the question been put to Qataris, in a referendum for instance, they would have rejected it.

Former justice minister Najeeb al-Nauimi says he doesn’t oppose the building of a church in principle.

But he has criticized the decision because it was imposed by the leadership without consulting its citizens, likely for political reasons.

It was done, he says, “to please Britain, to please Europe, [to say] you see, we are like you, you open a mosque, we open a church. But [U.S. President George W.] Bush, when he says we have a mosque, he did not grant that mosque to the people, it was done through a normal democratic process. We have to do the same.”

Al-Nauimi is also concerned that the church will become a target. There have already been threats made against it on extremist websites.

The Vatican of course is aware of all this. To avoid offending local sensitivities, the church was built without a bell and without crosses on the outside.

For greater certainty, its entrance is also protected by metal detectors.

Christians deeply appreciative

Among Christians, though, who have made Qatar their home, there is only deep appreciation.

In their first few years here, Robert and Debbie would attend clandestine prayers held in garages and living rooms. For many decades, the presiding Catholic priest operated here without official sanction.

With time, the situation improved. Catholics acquired a parish centre and seven priests held 56 masses a week at other locations around the country. But having a real church, they say, makes Qatar feel more like a home.

“We were really praying and praying that a miracle take place,” Debbie told me. “God has heard everybody's prayer.”

Catholics worship at Our Lady of the Rosary in Qatar. (Stephanie Jenzer, CBC)

At the church’s official opening, the celebrations were full of jubilation and went on for hours. The crowning achievement: having it open in time for Easter festivities this weekend.

“It's really great. We can celebrate the Holy Week, the passion of our Lord and Easter here in this wonderful monument,” beamed Robert.

It is a transient community. Many of those who attended the church’s opening will likely eventually go home. But the church will remain to serve new generations of expatriates who come looking for opportunity.

Second chance

Veneracion, too, will leave one day. But he said he will never forget what happened here.

“I would like to console myself when I grow old, when I'm 90 years old that … I was there when history was made, as the pastor of the people,” he said.

Centuries ago, missionaries brought Christianity to the Gulf region but it disappeared when Islam came along. Its revival way out in the desert gives religious coexistence here a second chance.

It also may signal the end of an era in the whole of the Arab Gulf. Just days after the Doha church was officially consecrated, the Vatican confirmed that it is in discussions with Saudi Arabia, where 1.5 million Christians must worship clandestinely, about establishing formal diplomatic relations — and eventually — about building a church there, too.

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