At Qatar’s Church City, Sunday Comes on Friday
In a nation deeply rooted in Islam, worshipers from other faiths find community in a government-sanctioned island of Christianity on the outskirts of Doha.DOHA, Qatar — Behind closed doors on Friday, in small rooms usually used for teaching catechism, the children celebrated Christmas.There was food, drink and songs. Wreaths and stockings decorated the walls. A few adults wore red Santa hats.Nearby, across the complex of mostly unmarked sand-colored buildings, a Mass was being celebrated in a 2,700-seat sanctuary, its altar backed by painted angels and Jesus on a cross. There would be another mass every hour, 15 of them on Friday, said in 10 different languages: English, Tagalog, Indonesian, Korean, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Konkani, Sinhala, Arabic.“We do as many masses as possible, to make people feel they belong somewhere,” Rev. Rally Gonzaga said.The busiest place on Fridays in Doha might not be at any World Cup soccer stadium. It could be this sanctioned island of Christianity — the only one in the country — on the dusty southern edge of Doha.The Qataris, and their road signs, cryptically call it the Religious Complex. Most others refer to it as Church City.And at the center of the eight churches planted here, from Anglican to Greek Orthodox, is the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Father Rally, as congregants call him, is a 52-year-old from the Philippines. He leads a team of 11 priests.Rev. Rally Gonzaga of Our Lady of the Rosary, one of the main churches at what Qatar labels the Religious Complex.This church has an estimated congregation of 200,000 — or it did, Father Rally said, before the coronavirus pandemic, and maybe before Qatar finished or suspended the construction projects related to the World Cup that had employed so many migrant workers. Now, maybe it is 100,000. He is not sure. He just knows that they come in droves.“Most people are social beings, so they want community,” Father Rally said. “They want belongingness.”A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More
