ABU DHABI // Thousands of people from all walks of life and cultures gathered on Thursday night at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Al Mushrif for a mass to celebrate its golden jubilee.
Prayers were said for Sheikh Khalifa, the President, and the country’s rulers who permitted the construction of churches in the country and for the country’s policy of religious tolerance.
“I am so elated to be part of this parish for the past 35 years,” said Joyce Rego, from India, an assistant coordinator for the church’s catechism programme.
“I was a member of the choir when the church was built on the Corniche, and also worked as a parish council member and a communion minister.”
The cathedral was established in 1965 on the Corniche when Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan granted about 11 acres of land to the Catholic Church.
In 1983, Sheikh Zayed, the Founding President, donated the land in the Mushrif area, where Bishop Bernard Gremoli built the present church.
“It’s an occasion for us to express our gratitude to God Almighty, to Sheikh Shakhbut, Sheikh Zayed and now Sheikh Khalifa, and to the people of the UAE who have accepted that we can live here with this freedom of worship,” said Bishop Paul Hinder, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, who has lived in the UAE for 11 years.
“Nowadays we can be happy to have this security, freedom and peace which allow us not only to practise our faith but to feel at home and a sense of community. Despite the conflicts in the region, I am very confident that it will remain an island of peace.”
Don Fox, a deacon at St Joseph’s Cathedral who has been in the UAE for five years, said the growth of the UAE and the church had been phenomenal.
“To celebrate 50 years, and to see St Joseph’s Parish Centre, the new church being built in Mussaffah, and the consecration of the Ras Al Khaimah church two years ago, we’re just blessed that we have such wonderful hosts that allow us to celebrate our faith,” he said.
The event coincides with the Feast of the Patron Saint of the parish, St Joseph.
“We are called today to be instruments of peace and I hope we can all learn from St Joseph,” Bishop Hinder said.
St Joseph is known for his humility, chastity, obedience, prudence and love for his family.
“I believe that we are called to give Jesus a home in our hearts, in our families, in the community of this country and to be instruments of peace,” he said. “I hope we can continue to live among different Christian denominations and Islam, being the dominant religion, with mutual understanding and peace.”
Bishop Hinder officiated the mass along with Rev Fr Savarimuthu, the parish priest, and other priests.
The UAE is home to about 900,000 Catholics. St Joseph’s Cathedral has 150,000 expatriates from about 90 countries.
rruiz@thenational.ae
'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
How Beautiful this world is!
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
