ABU DHABI // Thousands of Catholics in their finest saris and suits flocked to St Joseph’s Cathedral for Christmas mass services on Wednesday as church leaders thanked the UAE leadership for its religious tolerance.
“Christmas is the day we remember the birth of Jesus. It is a day of thanksgiving and honour,” said Anthony Emeka, 31, a security guard from Nigeria. “We remember friends, exchange gifts and meet new friends on this day.”
Mr Emeka came to church with colleagues and friends Charles Kiryowa, 25, from Uganda, and Gideon Tambe, 28, from Cameroon.
“The Christmas spirit here is quite unique because we are a minority here,” he said.
Twenty-two Christmas masses were celebrated from 7am to 8.30pm in English, French, German, Arabic, Italian, Polish, Urdu, Spanish, Korean, Sinhala, Konkani, Malayalam, Tamil and Tagalog.
The previous night thousands streamed to the church to attend three masses, including the Christmas Eve high mass at midnight.
“Christmas is one of the highlights of Christian life,” said Fr Wild Gandolf, a Swiss priest who is secretary to Bishop Paul Hinder.
“It’s amazing that we have great freedom to celebrate it here in the UAE. For that we are very grateful to the UAE Rulers.”
The services on Wednesday were inside the church, at Assisi and Damian halls, and outdoors within the church compound.
“We see Christmas trees and decorations in so many hotels and supermarkets,” Fr Gandolf said. “What’s amazing is that Muslim society allows us to express our faith here.”
Sharon Angelica Menezes, 50, manager of the engineering division at New York University Abu Dhabi, was among the thousands celebrating Christmas away from her family.
“My family is in New York and Canada, and this is my hometown for so many years,” Ms Menezes said. “Christmas is having the light of love and giving it to others. You carry the Christmas spirit along with you.”
It was Mary Jane Vitales’ first Christmas so far from home.
“I feel sad,” said Ms Vitales, 25, a housemaid from the Philippines. “But I’m still lucky because my employers allowed me to take a half-day leave from work to celebrate Christmas.”
She and her childhood friend Jennifer Macayanan, 25, took turns posing for photographs in front of Christmas decorations outside the church.
“We’ll post them later on Facebook,” Ms Macayanan said, laughing.
Egbert Pinto, 52, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 14 years, considers Christmas celebrations in Abu Dhabi “more spiritual” than those at home in Mangalore.
“Here I can be involved with the church and the people,” Mr Pinto said. “I belong to the Konkani prayer group which has 250 members.
“I feel so happy seeing all these people from different nationalities gathered here to celebrate Christmas.”
In his Christmas homily, Don Fox, a deacon at St Joseph’s Cathedral, told worshippers: “We have received the gift of God himself, the gift Emmanuel, which means God is with us.
“This gift that we receive each and every year is the reason that we come together at Christmas time and share the gifts of love with one another.”
Mr Fox said he appreciated that in Abu Dhabi he was able to go to shops and hear Christmas music.
“I love hearing people say ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’,” he said.
“But most of all I enjoy seeing the joy that exists in people’s faces as they go about their daily lives in the Christmas season because they are experiencing that joy and love, and looking for those gifts for their loved ones.”
rruiz@thenational.ae
