The consecration of St. Anthony of padua church in Ras Al Khaimah, on 14 June 2013 was memorable event. It was solemnized by His Eminence Cardinal Fernando Filone, His Excellency The Most Reverend Archbishop Petar Rajic and His Excellency Bishop Paul Hinder. At least 15 other priests attended and the 10,000 strong congregation (many of whom stood outside for over two hours in the heat that was above 40 degrees) was a testimony to the magnitude of the event. For those of the congregation,who havelived in Ras Al Khaimah for over 15 years this was the fulfillment of a seemingly impossible dream.On the 9th of April 1976, the first Holy Mass was celebrated in the staff quarters of the Ras Al Khaimah Hotel. The venue was the room of Mr. Thomas Dias & Mr. Bernard Dias in; the altar a suit case. Eight people gathered to hear that Easter mass and the celebrant was Father Eusebius Daveri OFM Capuchin. Father Daveri’s dream was to have a church in Ras Al Khaimah. During his bimonthly visits, Father Daveri would distribute medals of Our Lady and ask the parishioners to bury them in the sand while travelling to Sharjah and Dubai. While burying them, they were to recite three Hail Mary’s in honour of Mary Help of Christians. Our Lady must have heard and fittingly one of those medals was buried under the foundation stone of this our new church!As the congregation grew in Ras Al Khaimah, so did the need for a larger place of worship. Twice a month a priest came to celebrate mass and Mr. Anicet F.M. Florindo who has lived in Ras Al Khaimah since 1978 says that the journey for a better place of worship started with the move from the Ras Al Khaimah hotel staff quarters to many other places:

1. An open air compound on Oman St.
2. Gray MacKenzie’syard at the old Abra station.
3. Gray MacKenziestaff accommodation behind Saif Hospital.
4. The Norwegian club behindthe RAK hotel.
5. Theportacabinresidence of Mr. Thomas Dias, who was working for the RAK Government.
6. Theo. Rosario’s compound in 1984 where catechism classes where held and children were prepared for their First Holy Communionby Evette Rosario.
7. Mr. Abraham Jacob and Thomas John’s villa in Al Mareed.
8. The principal of The English Speaking School, Mrs. Wade,also lent her villa in Al Khuzam as did Mr. Titus.

In April 1987, Mr. Percy D’Mello’s villa was the venue where mass was held. This continued for at least ten years, and it was there that my family and I first heard mass when we arrived in Ras Al Khaimah in 1996.The services were held in the garden, so we had to put up with the hot ,humid summer months, as well as the cold and sometimes muddy winters. As Percy Dmello recalls “Choir singing was mellowed so that the neighbors were not disturbed. It was only at Christmas and Easter that a low 30 Amp microphone was used. At times, mosquitoes would keep the congregation awake during some of the homilies!”

In 1990, nurses working at local government hospitals rented a villa and at 6 pm mass held in their garden. Our family attended that mass for several years, as you could always get a seat! Fortunately a worship center, St Luke’s, had been built by the Anglican church, and they kindly allowed us to rent one of their buildings twice a month for mass.

There obviously was a need for a proper church and on 11th January, 1999 an announcement was made by Rev. Fr. Joseph, stating that the deputy ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi had given us permission to build a prayer hall. This came about through the hard work and dedication of Mr. Abraham Jacob. A parish committee was formed and this dedicated group, with Dr.Baby Mathew as its chairman completed the building of this place of worship by the end of 1999. However, as a long time parishioner, Alex Crasta comments “It took six more years to use the chapel as a place of worship, due to permission issues!” The St. Anthony of Padua church was consecrated on December 17th by Bishop Paul Hinder and we got our first resident parish priest Father John Van Deerlin, in November 2006.

In 2007, the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr AlQassimi wanted all the churches to be in one location, so he allotted land in Jazeera Al Hamra to ten different denominations, with the Catholic church being one of the recipients! The Catholic community had grown to approximately 7000 in number and so had already outgrown the 500 capacity church.

With encouragement from the Vicariate Bishop Paul Hinder and under the guidance of Father John Van Deerlin (2006-2007), Fr. Mathew Fernandes (2007-2009), Fr. Thomas Ampattukuzy (2009-2018), Fr. Thomas Sebastian (2018-2022) and our current parish priest Fr. Joy Menacherry (since 2022) a church that could accommodate 1500 people in the main hall and another 2000 in the basement became a reality. There are two other buildings in the compound, and assistant parish priests Fr. Ronelo, Fr. Arunraj and Fr. Godfrey are addition to assists the overworked Fr. Joy who is always calm, kind and helpful!