A Catholic Church In Tromsø, Norway

"A new study shows 39 percent of Norway's population identifies as atheist -- an increase of almost 20 percent from 1985, while 23 percent declare they 'don't know.'  That makes a stunning 62 percent of Norweigians who do not identify as Christian." [1]

"Norway embraced Catholicism in the 10th century and held on to the Faith until the Protestant Revolution in the 16th century, when Lutheranism took hold.  Afterwards, Catholicism was made illegal, and the number of Catholics steadily decreased to make up only a small minority of Norweigians." [2]

"Lutheranism was the state religion until 2012, when the government took away its status.  Catholicism was legalized in the mid-1800s, with the final restriction removed in 1956, allowing the Jesuit order back into the country.  The vast majority of Norway's 200,000 Catholics today are immigrants.  Those 200,000 Catholics represent a meager four percent of the total population of 5 million. [3]

Despite the history of Catholicism in Norway, the current trend toward secularism and the relatively small number of Catholics, Var Freue Kirche, a Catholic church in Tromsø still stands.  Photographs were taken by this blogger on June 18, 2016, of the church's exterior, which was under repair and the interior, where some touch-ups were seen needed.

This small, humble wooden church in Tromsø is simple.  It does not have the fame, the size and the opulence that the Vatican has but that does not matter for God, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, as well as the Mother of God are present and are attentive to those who are faithful.

The day this blogger visited the church, the door was unlocked for anyone who wished to enter and there was no attendant.  In his opinion, a true Catholic church is always open, always welcoming and unafraid of vandalism.  It was a wonderful experience to be able to spend a few moments inside the church alone with God without anyone present.

Before leaving, he went to the back of the church and saw small stacks of the Order of the Mass [4] booklets.  He flipped through one of them and decided to take pictures of all the pages.  They are shown below, hopefully without violating copyright laws (click on the image to sharpen it).

Some of the photographs have a glare on the right side of the page where the language is Norsk.  To compensate for it, here is a link to the prayers in Norsk: http://www.stpaul.no/kirken/messinnh.htm.

The following are close-ups:

[1] http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/atheists-outnumber-christians-in-norway
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] http://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/Mass.htm