CHRISTIAN IN ARABIA 

Pope Benedict XVI today commended the United Arab Emirates for its openness towards migrant workers and cooperation in providing places of worship for the nation’s growing Catholic community.
The Holy Father was speaking to the first ever ambassador to the Holy See from the Arabian nation, Ms Hissa Abdulla Ahmed Al-Otaiba.
He said “Freedom of worship contributes significantly to the common good and brings social harmony to all those societies where it is practised”.
We spoke to Bishop Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar to the Arabian Peninsula, about the life of the Church in the UAE.
“The reality of the Catholic Church in the UAE, is in fact that all of the Catholics are migrants. The large majority of them are from the Philippines and India, but they are also from other Asian countries, as well as from Arabic speaking countries with a low Christian minority especially Lebanon, but also Syria Jordan and other countries of the Near East. Once we had a kind of census here in our parish in Abu Dhabi and we registered about 90 different nationalities. Now the whole number of Catholics in the UAE, and this is a rough estimate, are close to half a million”.
Q: A lot of these would be people working in domestic service in the building industry…
“”You have all kinds of employees workers and business people, the large majority are construction workers. Right now we have 7 parishes, which are not really sufficient to meet the needs of the huge number of Catholics, but they are really committed, very active”.
Q: Is there any form of integration between the two communities, the migrant Catholic community and the Muslims, is freedom of worship a reality on the ground?
“We have to be realistic of course, because the society of the UAE, is a very special one, because close to 75% of the population are migrants, the Catholics are part of this 75%, I would rather say that we have sort of parallel society, we are not integrated into the local society. Relationships on a day to day basis are good, but you will associate mainly with your own community and not necessarily with the local people. Again the relationships especially on an official level are ok, I have no difficulties in my contacts with the ministry or with the people who are working in the offices and I don’t need to hide the fact I am a bishop from people, I have no problem. Here, in the UAE”.
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