HSI: Precious Help
Ivan and Dorothy Pais of Dubai write on April 19:
Here's good news for Mr. Aneel Aranha and his team. This is what Bishop Paul Hinder, o.f.m. (cap.), the new Vicar Apostolic of Arabia, has said in his first Pastoral Letter in the context of Bible groups and Bible courses: Those who have internet-access may get precious help on the website "Holy Spirit Interactive" (http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/). Copies of the Pastoral Letter have been distributed to all the parishioners in the Vicariate which comprises the U.A.E., Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and Saudi Arabia (no churches).
Bishop Paul, like his predecessor, Bishop Bernard Gremoli, who recently retired after 29 years as Vicar Apostolic of Arabia, will visit all the churches in the Vicariate during his Pastoral Visitation every year. According to Canon Law it is an obligation to do so only once in 5 years.
The Vicariate is the size of Europe!
Here's good news for Mr. Aneel Aranha and his team. This is what Bishop Paul Hinder, o.f.m. (cap.), the new Vicar Apostolic of Arabia, has said in his first Pastoral Letter in the context of Bible groups and Bible courses: Those who have internet-access may get precious help on the website "Holy Spirit Interactive" (http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/). Copies of the Pastoral Letter have been distributed to all the parishioners in the Vicariate which comprises the U.A.E., Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and Saudi Arabia (no churches).
Bishop Paul, like his predecessor, Bishop Bernard Gremoli, who recently retired after 29 years as Vicar Apostolic of Arabia, will visit all the churches in the Vicariate during his Pastoral Visitation every year. According to Canon Law it is an obligation to do so only once in 5 years.
The Vicariate is the size of Europe!
posted by Aneel Aranha ::
1 Comments:
On the subject of the Vicariate being the size of Europe, readers might like to have a few statistics as reported by Bishop Paul Hinder in a letter he wrote titled: Dubai, the Diary of St Mary's Church.
"On the occasion of my nomination as auxiliary bishop of the apostolic vicariate of Arabia, many people asked me: "What will you do in those countries? There aren’t any Christians".
"Were someone to stop by on Friday or better yet, during Holy Week at St. Mary’s Church in Dubai, they would immediately be convinced of the opposite and would become witness to a vibrant Church made up of Christians from a hundred countries, especially from India and the Philippines.
"Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, UAE, has become the most important commercial centre in the region. According to data from 2003, the UAE’s population is 3,150,000. Christians make up 35% of the population with 1,100,000 people, of whom 900,000 are Catholic. 29% of the population lives in Dubai. If this information is correct then there are nearly 300,000 Catholics in Dubai, many of whom are non-practising or rarely so. All the Christians are immigrants there for work reasons. Among them are many Arab-speaking Catholics who come from the Christian minorities of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq."
Now isn't that something!
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