Where is the largest Church in the world? It could be in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) where 80,000 people receive the Eucharist every Sunday and 10,000 children attend catechism.

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In the glittering metropolis of Dubai there is an ecclesial reality that defies imagination.

The St. Mary Parish of Dubai could be the largest not only in the United Arab Emirates but in the entire world if one considers the number of people who participate in the Eucharist every weekend, often overflowing liturgical spaces to occupy courtyards or adjacent halls.

Beyond the official figures, it is the images that are impressive.

 

Extraordinary Numbers

When we talk about numbers, about 80,000 people attend Mass every week, and on special occasions, the number can rise to 200,000 people.

The numbers seem impossible, but if you consider that the current church can host 2,000 worshippers and that around thirty Masses are celebrated just over the weekend, it becomes clear how such figures spread over an entire week can indeed be realistic.

Other sources report that about 200,000 consecrated hosts are distributed during festive shifts each week. This number might be exaggerated (we will verify).

Masses, as already mentioned, are celebrated every hour to meet growing demand and are held in multiple languages, including English, Arabic, French, Urdu, and Filipino.

 

The History of the World’s Largest Church

The pastor of St. Mary, Father Lennie JA Connully, tells that in the 1960s the Catholic community in Dubai did not even have a church and was served by a priest from Bahrain. Mass was celebrated once a week at embassies or in their homes for groups of 10–15 people.

Consecrated in 1989, the St. Mary Catholic Church of Dubai was created by expanding a smaller building until it assumed a central role in Dubai’s Catholic life.

Today it is served by about 15 resident priests, with the help of various temporary celebrants, volunteers and logistical structures that must liaise every week with civil authorities on matters of traffic and security.

Another priest explains to The Pillar that about 10,000 children are enrolled in the parish catechism program, of which 7,000 are in English and 3,000 in other languages.

And every month the pastors baptize hundreds of children, while at least two large weddings are held every 30 days often with a dozen couples at a time.

It is very nice what the pastor writes on the website of the mega-parish inviting people to contact him for any question and, addressing the parishioners, encouraging them to “put at the disposal your many talents in the service of your parish”.

 

Catholics in the United Arab Emirates and us

The United Arab Emirates allow religious practice in designated areas, but maintain tight control over ecclesial activity by prohibiting public evangelization and limiting visible signs such as bells or external crosses.

Nevertheless, the Catholic presence has increased significantly thanks to the immigration of workers and families from Asia, Africa and Europe: in 2020 it was estimated that 850,000 Christians — mostly Catholics — resided in the country, a significant percentage in a Muslim context.

Looking at this reality, it becomes obvious how sometimes we remain closed within our small geographic context, convinced that the life of the Church is exhausted in the parishes we know.

These experiences instead show how Catholicism is literally universal, capable of gathering different peoples and languages under the same altar.

Where we see communities of a few hundred people, elsewhere faith sometimes takes the form of immense crowds who live the same Eucharist, albeit with completely different organizational and cultural challenges. It is evidence that the Church does not belong to a single country, to a single continent or to a single culture, but breathes with the breath of the whole world.