Artist’s impression of the new St. Olav’s Cathedral in Trondheim.
Catholics in Norway will have a new St. Olav’s Cathedral
The old cathedral of Trondheim was no longer big enough for the growing Catholic community.
12.27.15 – 16 H 06
The relations between Lutherans and Catholics are now standardized and the figure of Saint Olav Viking, who was baptized in Rouen in the XIth century became for unifying the country.
With faulty acoustics and its 200 seats, the former cathedral of St. Olav, consecrated in 1973 no longer met the needs of the Catholic community in Trondheim, Norway’s third largest city.
While in 1973 there were only 500 Catholics in the city and its surroundings, they are now more than 6000, arrived with the oil boom and economic prosperity. The city also has a technical university that attracts foreign students and researchers. “Today there are more than 25% of Norwegian origin” among registered Catholics in the diocese of Trondheim, observes the parish priest, Egil P. Mogstad. Among the hundred nationalities, Poles represent over half of the faithful.
“A SYMBOL OF INTEGRATION”
Also, the new St. Olav’s Cathedral, under construction since the fall, is it welcomed by the Mayor of Trondheim, the Labor Rita Ottervik as “a symbol of integration” for his town of about 180 000 inhabitants. In the future building, which is scheduled to open in spring 2017, some 500 faithful can attend Masses celebrated in eight languages. “It would have been difficult to build largest in the city center, on the site of the ancient cathedral,” says Fr. Mogstad.
Furthermore, the means of the Catholic Church in Norway is limited. If the site has been launched, thanks to the support of the German organization Bonifatiuswerk that helps Catholics of Northern Europe. It will fund almost one third of the eleven million that are expected to cost the work; donations amounting, themselves, to 6.5 million – the rest will be covered by a loan.
A FEW METERS FROM THE CATHEDRAL NIDAROS LUTHERAN
The new St. Olav’s Cathedral, whose plans were presented in February to Pope Francis, will rise a few hundred meters from Nidaros Lutheran Cathedral. A proximity that is not a geographic … After centuries of tensions between the two churches in Norway, relations have improved significantly, with common works throughout the year.
A replay: In Norway, Lutheranism is no longer the state religion
Catholics are invited to celebrate a mass in Nidaros each July 29 for the feast of Saint Olav. Baptized in Rouen in 1014, the Viking was the main evangelist saint of Norway, where he died, as king, in 1028.
Nidaros Cathedral, recalls its dean Ragnhild Jepsen, “was founded by Catholics in the place where the Viking Olav was buried”. So Nidaros was the seat of the Catholic Diocese wide covering Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands … until the Lutheran Reformation of 1537. For nearly three centuries, until 1843, the Catholic Church was then banned in Norway. And it was only in 1930 that the diocese of Trondheim was restored.
John Paul II visited in 1989 had marked “the beginning of a new era in bilateral relations”, noted Fr. Mogstad and Ragnhild Jepsen. So, the construction of the new St. Olav, ensures the Dean of Nidaros, “this is good news for the whole city! “
Antoine Jacob, Trondheim (Norway)
SOURCE:
http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Actualite/Les-catholiques-de-Norvege-auront-une-nouvelle-cathedrale-Saint-Olav-2015-12-27-1397269