Maronites in the Gulf

A migrant faith in the Arabian Peninsula, held quietly and kept alive

There is a Maronite community across the Arabian Gulf, and it is almost entirely Lebanese and expatriate. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Catholics live and work in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, and most of them arrived for the same reason: work. They keep the faith inside a landscape where Christianity is a guest religion, tolerated in most of these countries and forbidden in public in one of them.

This is not the story of grand cathedrals and multi-generational parishes that you find in Australia or the United States. It is a quieter story. The Gulf Maronites worship where they are permitted to, often shoulder to shoulder with Catholics from a hundred other nations, and they carry Lebanon with them in a suitcase they never quite unpack.

Christianity in the Gulf

Christianity in the Arabian Gulf is a migrant religion. There is almost no indigenous Christian population. The faithful are foreign workers, drawn overwhelmingly from the Philippines, India, Lebanon and the wider Middle East, along with Africans, Europeans and others.

Worship is legal and openly accommodated in five of the six Gulf states. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman all permit Christians to gather in designated churches, most of them built on land granted by the ruling families and clustered in compounds. Churches there can be enormous. On a single weekend, one Dubai parish distributes more than 200,000 Communion hosts.

Saudi Arabia is the exception, and it is a real one. The public practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited, and there are no official churches anywhere in the kingdom. That single fact shapes how Lebanese Catholics live their faith depending on which side of the border they happen to work on.

The Catholic Vicariates of Arabia

The Catholic Church organizes the entire Arabian Peninsula into two large jurisdictions called apostolic vicariates. Both were created in their current form on May 31, 2011, when the older Vicariate of Arabia was divided in two.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia covers the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. Its seat is Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Abu Dhabi, and its current vicar is Bishop Paolo Martinelli. The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia covers Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Its seat is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali, Bahrain, consecrated on December 10, 2021, the largest Catholic church in the whole peninsula, with seating for more than 2,300 people. The vicar is Bishop Aldo Berardi.

Both vicariates are Latin-rite, but their bishops hold jurisdiction over every Catholic in their territory, of whatever rite. That includes Maronites, Melkites, Syriac Catholics, Chaldeans and the various Indian Eastern Catholic churches. A Maronite in Doha or Manama is cared for, in practice, within this Latin structure rather than by a separate Maronite eparchy of the kind that exists in the West.

Maronites in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates holds the largest and most visible Lebanese community in the Gulf. Estimates of the Lebanese population there range from around 80,000 to roughly 156,000, making them one of the biggest non-citizen Arab communities in the country. A significant share are Maronite.

In Dubai, most of them gather at Saint Mary's Catholic Church, one of only two Catholic churches in the city and, through sheer weight of immigration, one of the largest Catholic parishes in the world. Saint Mary's celebrates Mass in Arabic and French among many other languages, and a Lebanese priest has led its Arabic and French speaking communities. In Abu Dhabi, the faithful worship at Saint Joseph's Cathedral, the seat of the southern vicariate.

These are not standalone Maronite churches in the Western sense. They are shared Catholic parishes where the Maronite Divine Liturgy and Arabic-language Masses are offered for the Lebanese faithful. The community forms around the liturgy rather than around a building of its own.

Maronites in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman

Across the northern Gulf, the pattern repeats. Lebanese Catholics attend the designated churches of the northern vicariate and worship alongside the wider expatriate flock.

In Kuwait, a Maronite-rite Mass is celebrated on Sundays at the Holy Family Co-Cathedral in Kuwait City, the former seat of the vicariate and still its co-cathedral. The northern vicar is assisted in his pastoral work by a priest of the Maronite rite, a sign of how present the Lebanese community is in the region. In Bahrain, worship now centers on the new Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali. In Qatar, Catholics gather at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Doha, part of the Religious Complex in Abu Hamour. Oman has churches in Muscat, Sohar and Salalah.

The numbers are smaller than in the UAE, but the shape of the community is the same. Lebanese professionals, present on renewable work visas, gathering for the Arabic Mass and the feasts they grew up with.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the hardest place in the Gulf to be a Christian. The kingdom prohibits the public practice of any faith other than Islam and permits no churches at all. Yet millions of Christian foreign workers live there, and Lebanese are among them.

These believers worship privately. Small groups meet in homes and inside expatriate housing compounds, and such gatherings are generally tolerated as long as they stay quiet and out of public view. That tolerance is not a legal right, and it carries genuine risk. Believers are expected to be discreet, and the safest approach has long been to keep worship private and low-profile.

For a Lebanese Maronite posted to Riyadh or Jeddah, faith becomes an interior and domestic thing. The prayers do not stop. They simply move indoors, into the quiet of an apartment, kept by memory and by whatever a family carried with them.

The 2019 Papal Visit

In February 2019, Pope Francis traveled to the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first pope ever to set foot on the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam. On February 5 he celebrated an open-air Mass at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi before a crowd estimated at 180,000, the largest public act of Christian worship in the region's history.

During the visit, the pope and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, signed the Document on Human Fraternity, a joint appeal for peaceful coexistence between believers. For the Gulf's Christians, many of whom had never imagined seeing a pope in the region, the visit was a moment of quiet vindication. The migrant church, so often invisible, was seen.

Why Lebanese Came to the Gulf

The Lebanese did not come to the Gulf for religious freedom. They came for work. The first significant wave arrived during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975 to 1990, when families and whole businesses relocated to Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi to escape the fighting. Many were highly educated, fluent in French and English, and quickly established in commerce and media.

Later waves followed the rhythm of Lebanon's troubles. The economic collapse that began in 2019, one of the worst financial crises in modern history, pushed a new generation abroad. Bankers, engineers, doctors, hospitality managers and construction professionals found in the Gulf a place to earn in stable currency and send money home.

That last part matters. Diaspora remittances have at times exceeded a large fraction of Lebanon's economy, and much of that money originates in the Gulf. When a Maronite father in Doha wires his salary back to Zgharta or the Metn, he is not only supporting his family. He is helping hold up Lebanon itself.

Keeping the Faith Far From Home

Life in the Gulf is transient by design. There is no path to citizenship. Residency is tied to employment, and a job lost can mean a country left within weeks. A Maronite family may live in Dubai for twenty years and still be, on paper, temporary.

This shapes how the faith is kept. The Arabic Mass becomes an anchor. Feast days, the novena to Saint Charbel, weddings and baptisms are celebrated within the shared parishes, and the Lebanese gather around them the way they once gathered in a village church. Priests who speak the language and know the Maronite tradition are precious, because they connect a scattered community back to its rite.

The hardest part is the children. A child raised in the Gulf, schooled in English, may know Dubai far better than the mountain their grandparents came from. Keeping the young connected to the Syriac chant, the Arabic prayers and the memory of Lebanon is the quiet work of every Gulf Maronite parent. It is done at the kitchen table as much as in church.

The Gulf Maronites are a diaspora within a diaspora, a faith held on borrowed time in borrowed cities. And still it holds. The liturgy is prayed, the candles are lit, and Lebanon travels on, in the hearts of people who never stopped being from somewhere else.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there Maronite churches in the Gulf?

There are very few standalone Maronite parishes in the Gulf. Instead, Maronites worship within the designated Catholic churches of the two Latin-rite vicariates that serve the region, where Maronite-rite Masses are offered for the Lebanese community. A Maronite Mass is celebrated on Sundays at the Holy Family Co-Cathedral in Kuwait City, and Lebanese communities gather within churches such as Saint Mary's in Dubai and Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Abu Dhabi.

Can Christians worship in Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia does not permit the public practice of any religion other than Islam, and there are no official Christian churches in the kingdom. Millions of Christian foreign workers, including Lebanese, generally worship privately in homes and expatriate compounds. These gatherings are usually tolerated but carry real risk, and Christians are expected to keep them discreet.

Where do Maronites go to Mass in Dubai?

Most Lebanese Catholics in Dubai attend Saint Mary's Catholic Church, one of only two Catholic churches in the city and one of the largest Catholic parishes in the world. Saint Mary's offers Mass in Arabic and French, and a Lebanese priest has led its Arabic and French speaking communities. Maronites also worship at Saint Michael's Church in Sharjah and Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Abu Dhabi.

How many Lebanese live in the Gulf?

Exact figures are hard to establish because Gulf residents are expatriates rather than citizens, and many are Muslim rather than Christian. The United Arab Emirates alone is home to an estimated 80,000 to 156,000 Lebanese, one of the largest non-citizen Arab communities in the country. Sizeable Lebanese populations also live in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and beyond, of whom a significant share are Maronite.

Is the Maronite Church present in the UAE?

Yes. The United Arab Emirates falls under the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, a Latin-rite jurisdiction based at Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Abu Dhabi that also cares for Eastern Catholics, including Maronites. Maronite Masses are offered within its churches for the Lebanese community, and the Maronite Patriarchate in Lebanon provides pastoral oversight for the diaspora.