Lively Arab music and the scent of cooking lamb, spices and the occasional whiff from a smoking hookah wafted from tents on the plaza facing St. George Maronite Catholic Church in Cranston this past weekend during the Lebanese Festival. The event, which Father Tony Saab said aims to bring the church’s 300 parishioners together as well as share the church’s faith, heritage and tradition with the community. The Maronite Catholic Church that bought the former St. Ann Church from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has 45 parishes extending from Florida to Maine. Father Saab said Roman Catholics attend mass at St. George. He said the service is basically the same, a little longer and that prayers are said in Aramaic, “the language of Jesus.” (Warwick Beacon photos by John Howell)