St. Joseph's Cathedral
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi
Leadership	Archbishop Joseph Arshad
Location
Location	Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Geographic coordinates	33°35′01″N 73°03′22″E / 33.5837°N 73.0562°E / 33.5837; 73.0562
Architecture
Style	red-brick

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, is the main church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi.^[1]

Four armed guards sit at the gates of the Cathedral, guarding it as well as the Bishop's House in a garden set behind a high wall. Threats from Islamic militants have made this protection essential. Although almost any Christian institution faces similar danger, the Church has no money to pay for more guards.^[2]

St. Joseph's Cathedral has large congregations from Rawalpindi, Islamabad and surrounding areas for Good Friday, Easter and Christmas services each year.^[3][4]

The Cathedral parish is also home to St. Catherine's Convent. The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary host the St. Catherine's Sewing Center, training poor women in sewing, crochet and embroidery; the women produce hand-made objects for sale.^[5]

History

On 21 September 2009, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio to Pakistan, presided at the ordination in St. Joseph's Cathedral, of the new coadjutor bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Bishop Rufin Anthony. More than 1,500 people attended the event.^[6]

In January 2012 a youth group from the Cathedral Parish launched a website "for realising the potential of youth and expressing their concerns in a Christian way", with the hope that it would help counter fundamentalism and fanaticism. Sister Athens Angeles of the Daughters of St. Paul was the main organizer of the group.^[7]

Bishop Anthony Theodore Lobo, the former Bishop of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad diocese, died after prolonged illness on 18 February 2013. His funeral was held at Saint Joseph's Cathedral on 20 February. He was buried in the cathedral compound.^[8]

References