Last Saturday, the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary opened in Doha. The Rites of Consecration was conducted over about a 5 hour mass and there were thousands and thousands of members in attendance!
I know some of you are wondering how this is the first church when there have been Catholic masses going on for some time. I guess the location of the masses was not considered a church but more of a place to worship. The Emir (ruler of Qatar) donated the land to any religion wanting to build their religious institution. So far the Catholic Church appears to be the only one.
So my friend, Lucy, and her kids and I met at the church for The Rites of Consecration. First of all the church is in the middle of nowhere, dust and dirt as far as the eye can see! There were people coming from everywhere, by foot, car and bus! It was amazing. There were a large amount of security, police officers, special forces, and metal detectors. I got there an hour early and there was not a seat to be found. I found us a spot right by the door, you can never be too safe! It was truly something, at some point they stopped letting people into the church yet broadcasted the mass outside. To be honest we probably would have been better off out there. We couldn't see anything and had to struggle just to hear.
After about 3.5 hours, I left as I had a million and one things to do now that I am teaching. Lucy stayed until the end and the traffic to get out once mass was over was a nightmare.
We are looking forward to going to church more often! ;-)))
