As the northern winter approaches, Scandinavia’s Catholic Church is witnessing unprecedented growth, with more people turning to the faith in reaction to the region’s highly secularized culture.
“The Church is gaining strength thanks to an upsurge in Catholic conversions,”
“And where there was once anti-Catholic feeling, public prejudices are now much diminished. Young people are finding each other in parishes across the country, while others show a positive interest in ways we haven’t seen before,”
The lay Catholic spoke as Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo marked World Mission Sunday Oct. 18 by unveiling plans for his diocese’s first-ever synod on evangelical needs and challenges.
In an OSV News interview, Aadland Høen said many young people have discovered the faith after “terrifying experiences” of pagan and New Age practices, adding that Norway’s Church was now seeing a significant rise in confirmations and adult initiation courses.
Meanwhile, a prominent Danish Catholic told OSV News the country’s Church was also observing new signs of interest, but was also seeking to ensure converts properly understood Catholic teaching and were not merely making a “conservative, counter-cultural statement.”
“The growth isn’t as pronounced here as in Norway and Sweden,” said Nik Bredholt, parish council chairman at St. Ansgar’s Cathedral in Copenhagen.
“But many are discovering the Catholic Church via the internet and coming to our Masses in a genuine search for God,” Bredholt said. “Something significant is clearly happening.”
Catholics suffered severe repression throughout post-Reformation Scandinavia, when predominant Lutheran churches gained official denomination status.
However, although Norway’s Constitution, amended in 2014, still declares the Lutheran Church to be “established,” it no longer requires government ministers to be practicing members and says other faith communities must be “supported on equal terms.”
Demands for similar modernizing reforms have been made where Lutheran state churches still hold sway.
Jonathan Luxmoore, OSV News
