Sacred Heart Church (Manama, Bahrain)

Sacred Heart Church (Manama, Bahrain), is a Roman Catholic parish in Manama, Bahrain. The church is one of only two catholic churches in Bahrain (the other being the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Visitation in Awali). The Sacred Heart Church serves an estimated 140,000 people. The parish priest is Fr Thomas Quadros.

History

In January H.E. Giovanni Baptista Tirinanzi,Apostilic Vicar of Arabia,then based in Aden,came to Bahrain to meet the then Emir of Bahrain,Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa with plans to build a church in Bahrain.The foundation stone for the new church was laid on June 9th.Fr. Luigi Magliacani whom Mgr.Tirinanzi knew as an expert in the building of churches was called to Bahrain and given responsibility of building the church.Within a few months,the church,the priests residence and a small school were built.

The first mass,the Christmas midnight mass was held in the new church.It was formally blessed on March 3rd 1940.The parish was the first of its kind in the Gulf.

The Comboni sisters were first brought in May 1953.They were given the role of taking care of the school.As the gulf began to experience the oil boom,more and more catholics were beginning to arrive in Bahrain.To cater to their needs,St Barth's Hall was built in 1958 to provide a place for social gatherings.This building also included the residential accommodation for priests.

Through the next 30 years as the number of catholics grew the church,now referred to as the mother church was unable to cater to the needs of community.The church underwent a major expansion under the leadership of Fr. Felicio Diniz, the previous parish priest of the church most significant of which was the building of the Main church which opened in 1990 and which is still used today.Other major developments include the building of the Parish community centre and the Third Millennium building.

Current Status

The church currently caters to the large expatriate population in Bahrain.The parish consists of Malayalis, Goans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi, Tamils, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Arabs.The main language used in services is English although there are services conducted in Arabic,Malayalam,Tamil,Konkani,Telugu and Sinhalese.The church also has a large number of overseas parishioners from Saudi Arabia who come across the causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to attend Christmas,New Year and Easter services as Saudi Arabia doesn't have any Christian churches.

The church also hosts a number of communal activities ,the most famous of which is the Family Day festival which occurs on the first week of February every year.

External links

* [http://www.sacredheartchurchbahrain.org/ Sacred Heart Church, Bahrain]