After three days in beautiful Oslo, I boarded a plane and headed to Bergen.  Bergen is the second largest city in Norway. 

Bergen is a beautiful waterfront city with colorful buildings, a thriving fish market, and so many fun sites to see.

During my research of Bergen, I learned of a Catholic parish that serves over 17,000 Catholics in an area that stretches approximately a six-hour drive from north to south with over 70% of the parish members living within a one-hour drive of the church.

St. Paul Church began in the late 1850s.  During this time, the first Catholic Mass on Christmas Day was celebrated.  This was the first Catholic Mass celebrated since the Protestant Reformation.  I can picture St. Olav smiling that day!

From the 1500s to the early 2000s, the Lutheran Church was the state sanctioned institution.  In 2017, the Norwegian Lutheran Church formally separated from the government.

St. Paul Church is one of the most diverse parishes in the world.  I witnessed this diversity while attending Sunday morning Mass during my visit to Bergen.  It was odd to see people of so many different nationalities speaking fluent Norwegian.  We have the same nationalities in our country (USA) speaking English.  However, our country, particularly New York state where I am from, is known as the melting pot.  I didn’t realize that this dynamic occurred in other places.

Mass at St. Paul’s is celebrated in Norwegian, English, Polish, Tamil, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Eritrean, Lithuanian, Spanish, French, and LATIN.

The English Mass was at 6pm on Sunday evening and I was leaving Bergen earlier that day.  The Saturday evening Mass at St. Paul’s was the Latin Mass.  Even though I haven’t been to a Latin Mass since childhood, I was planning to attend this Mass.  However, the Mass started at 6pm.  February in Bergen brings darkness at 5pm.  For this reason, I decided to go to the 9am Norwegian Mass on Sunday morning.  Even at 9am the sun wasn’t completely up, but it was definitely brighter than it would have been for a 6pm Mass. 

At Sunday Mass, I was surprised to see six altar servers in full black and white attire.  The priest did not process down the aisle, but came from a side door on the altar after the ringing of a bell.  I certainly remember that from the Latin Mass.

If you have read my previous blogs, you know how much I LOVE cushioned kneelers. 

In addition to the diversity in nationality, many of the Norwegian Catholics are converts from the Church of Norway including the bishop and pastor of St. Paul’s Church.  Many of these converts are drawn to a sense of true Norwegian identify as Catholics.  Once again, St. Olav would be proud!

Let me know in the comments below if you have ever visited Bergen and if so, did you visit St. Paul Church?

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