20,000 congregate at Catholic church for Good Friday service

Dubai: Parking space was at a premium at the St Mary's Catholic Church in Oud Metha as an unprecedented crowd of more than 20,000 worshippers congregated yesterday for Good Friday services.

The Church for the first time held services in different languages for the various communities, said Raju Maliekal, a parishioner.

He said Parish Priest P.M. Peter had announced three weeks earlier that worshippers should park at three spots: near the Creek Park, Indian High School or behind the Rashid Hospital, and walk to the Church, to avoid traffic jams.

"We left home at seven for the 9am services, to get parking space," said Sheryl Carneiro Gomes. She was one of the lucky few as she got a spot at the Iranian Club, some distance away from St Mary's Catholic Church.

"It was total chaos," said another Indian expatriate. He said people had to park as far away as Lamcy Plaza and take a taxi back to the Church.

Traffic jams

Another parishioner said the reason for the traffic jams was that people were dropping off their families at the entrance and then doing the rounds to find a parking space nearby.

There is another church complex nearby which hosts various other denominations and also had an equally large congregation yesterday. The service in the Malayalam language alone attracted over 10,000 worshippers, said Maliekal.

The services were staggered in a bid to cut down the crowds and were held throughout the morning at different times in Konkani, Tagalog, Arabic and in Urdu for Pakistani Christians.

Parishioners are expecting an equally huge congregation of more than 20,000 today for the Saturday night Vigil, as there will only be one service and in English.