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Ryan and Tess are good friends and colleagues atthe school where I currently teach. At the beginning ofthis month, they asked me to be Godfather to their 6-month old Gabriel. I’m not sure why. I am always the onethat wakes Gabriel up when I enter the teacher lounge toget ice for my morning Strawberry Perrier. But onemorning, Tess asked me if I am Christian and Ryanspecified with Catholic.This story is not your average Catholic baptismstory. I had no idea there was even a Catholic church onthis island. Turns out there is. And it turns out there aresix pairs of Godparents for Gabriel. I never knew youcould have more than two.We all met on a Google Meet the Tuesday beforethe baptism. It was really informal so I looked really niceonline with my tie and pressed shirt. Guess I didn’t readthe email very closely. I thought the baptism wascompletely ONLINE due to Covid19 and the fact that weare in a strict Muslim country. It made sense. I know thereare non-denominational services that go on each weekhere on the island in secrecy. I just didn’t know there wasan actual Catholic Church and ordained priestsomewhere here too.Roseana and I drove there in the middle of a huge“Shamal” (dust storm) around 10:30 on a Friday. WhyFriday? In the Muslim world, Friday is the holy day of theweek. We work Sunday to Thursday, with the weekendbeing Friday and Saturday. Saturday is like Saturday inthe states: shopping and events. Fridays, while theMosques are full, there are groups of Christians that meetin secrecy - like a blackmarket faith opportunity. Weird, Iknow. WELCOME TOCHRISTIANITYGABRIEL S. ARAZAThe church itself is just a house. It’s been modifiedso the living room is an actual sanctuary. I spent most ofthe Mass contemplating how anyone could smuggle in a3 foot high wood carving of Christ or the huge 3d woodcarving portraying the Last Supper. (It’s difficult to evensmuggle a Christmas Tree into this country and a lot ofpeople get their Christmas decorations confiscated andthrown out at customs.It felt pretty good to be back in a house of God. Icertainly don’t ever feel like I need to be in church, butthe Dude Christ once in a while is rejuvenating. Fouryears of Catholic high school provides a lot of memories.
At the Island Catholic Church
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