Scottish Catholic Observer

Joining together in St Patrick’s Church, Anderston, on February 13, members young and old of the Maronite community, an Arabic-speaking Catholic Church which hails from Lebanon, marked the beginning of Lent with a special celebration of Mass in the Arabic language that embraced their cultural and religious heritage.

The Mass was celebrated by Fr Jhonny Saba, who, dressed in purple vestments to mark the beginning of the penitential season, led the congregation in prayer and gave out ashes ahead of Ash Wednesday.

The ashes were distributed a day before Ash Wednesday, in order for Fr Jhonny to return to London to mark Ash Wednesday with the Maronite community in England.

The congregation took part in the responses with the help of both an Arabic and English translation displayed on a screen, while younger members of the Maronite community acted as altar servers. The number of Christian Arabs in Scotland has grown over the past five years, with member Joe Bilan noting that what started as a group of seven has grown to number over 160 people.

“We do Mass on a regular basis, we do it every few months or on special occasions,” Mr Bilan said. “I think it went very well and obviously we’ve recently had approval from the archbishop of Glasgow, Archbishop Tartaglia, that we can permanently have our Masses in St Patrick’s Church.”

He spoke of the group’s diversity and the hardships that many have faced before coming to Scotland.

“We have recently a lot of Syrian and Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers,” he said.

“They’ve lost everything,” he added, and spoke of how some had even come face-to-face with ISIS.

“We have many of the people in our community,” he said. “They’ve lost everything because of what they believe and their Faith—all they have left is their Faith. Giving them a Mass in Arabic is the least we can do.”

Mr Bilan spoke of how the community are ‘trying very hard’ to get a permanent priest, as they currently served by the priest in London.

In their parish bulletin, St Patrick’s welcomed the Arabic Mass. “Our parish was founded for immigrants from Ireland and it is good that we can now be welcoming to new immigrant groups settling here in Glasgow and that we can help them to preserve their religious traditions,” the bulletin reads. “It is a useful reminder to us of our membership in the worldwide Catholic Church.”

– For Arabic Christians looking to find out more about Mass in Arabic, visit Christian Arabs in Scotland, or contact Joe Bilan on 07411243865.