Strengthening Faith and Intercultural and Interreligious Formation

Strengthening Faith and Intercultural and Interreligious Formation 

Missionary animation visit by Fr. Alfred Maravilla to the United Arab Emirates

(ANS – Fujairah, UAE – April 2, 2024) - Fr. Alfred Maravilla (3d from right), general councilor for the missions, made an animation visit to the Salesian community of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates from March 27 to 31.

The UAE is a federation of 7 emirates along the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The largest of these emirates, Abu Dhabi, comprises more than ¾ of the federation’s land area. Fujairah is one of the smaller emirates. Since the opening of a new container port in the early 1980s, the city of Fujairah has become a major trans-shipment point. Christians are free to worship in the UAE, but the spread of Christianity among Muslims is strictly prohibited.

Salesians from the province of Madras (Chennai) arrived in 2007 at the invitation of the Capuchin vicar apostolic, to administer St. Mary’s Catholic High School in the vicariate apostolic. They were also entrusted with the pastoral care of the nearby Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish.

The school has about 2,500 students, from kindergarten to 12th grade, from 40 countries. Visa and emigration policies represent a major challenge. Three Salesians work in the school and, although the institute is “Catholic,” government policies do not allow the proclamation of the Gospel and faith formation for Christian students. But the school is an agora where children of different faiths work side by side and experience the value of tolerance and respect for a healthy human society.

“Our presence in the school is important because it is a Catholic witness among the vast majority of young people who are not Christians,” Fr. Maravilla stresses. “Therefore, our presence is important and even necessary. If we were to leave, the Catholic witness among these young people would disappear,” the general councilor added.

In 2020, there were almost 850,000 foreign workers and their dependent Catholic family members in the UAE, representing almost 9% of the total population. The vicariate apostolic of Southern Arabia, entrusted to the Capuchins since 1916, comprises Oman, the UAE, and Yemen. The UAE’s 10 parishes, which cater to immigrant foreign workers, are international, intercultural, and inter-ritual.

Two Salesians work in the parish, “which is aimed at people from different cultures and Catholic ,” Fr. Maravilla went on to say. “Our pastoral care for these migrants, in a context in which the life of faith and the Christian life are difficult and are always questioned, is an important missionary work. Nourishing and strengthening the faith of these migrant workers will allow them to pass it on to their children, ”he concluded. Before leaving, he encouraged the Salesian community always to remember that theirs is a very important apostolate for the Congregation.