Mass began at 9am. Twenty, then perhaps 30, people filed into the small sanctuary from the howling winter winds outside.
It cut through the sounds of Arabic Christmas songs playing from speakers planted out the front.
The worshipers gathering on Sunday were mostly elderly and the only remaining residents of Derdghaya, a small village in southern Lebanon with a majority-Christian central neighbourhood. There were also some children, and young adults donning the uniforms of Caritas, a Catholic charity.
They prayed through the service, the congregation’s last before Christmas arrives on Thursday.
Only, this isn’t the village’s permanent church - rather, this makeshift chapel is the local priest’s residence, which the congregants are using as an alternative for the time being.
