“I told Pope Francis I want to be a shepherd who smells like reindeer, and he laughed quite a bit.”
This is a great and inspiring read, about the new bishop serving the people of Finland.
From Angelus News:
Finland is home to one of the world’s smallest, most scattered Catholic populations: one diocese for an entire country the size of Italy, with only eight parishes and about 30 priests. And until last fall, the Diocese of Helsinki — which ministers to some 17-18,000 Catholics — had been without a bishop since 2019.
The wait ended on Sept. 29, 2023, when Pope Francis named 54-year-old Spaniard Father Raimo Goyarrola Belda, a priest of Opus Dei and former physician who was sent to Finland 17 years ago as a missionary, to fill the post. Since no Catholic church there can hold much more than 100 people, his ordination as a bishop last November was held in a Lutheran church in Helsinki.
What’s it like being a Catholic in one of the world’s richest countries, but poorest dioceses? The following is a translated version of our conversation, edited for brevity.
Bishop, can you describe what the Church in Finland looks like?
Finland is similar to Italy in land area, but only has a population of 5 1/2 million. So the distances are huge. But thanks to ecumenism, here in Finland there’s a lot of love among us Christians, especially the Lutheran and Orthodox churches, which let us use their churches to celebrate holy Mass. That allows us to offer Mass in non-Catholic, Christian churches at least once a month in 25 cities where there’s no Catholic parish.
It’s a very small church, but a church that’s very alive, with lots of children and baptisms. It grows. Many migrants and refugees have been arriving here over the years, from places like Poland and Vietnam. From Latin America, many have come from Cuba, Argentina, and Chile. Now more are coming from Nicaragua and Venezuela.
There’s also a wave of migration from Africa, from countries where there’s a lot of violence, especially Nigeria and Cameroon.
We’re a church with a lot of “local” baptisms but also those of migrants and refugees. And we’re growing a lot.
What do you mean when you say being poor, in the sense of a ‘poor church,’ has its benefits in a country like Finland?
The advantage of being a poor church is that you have to focus on God. Because sometimes when we have means, when we have money, when we build … we have the temptation of thinking that it’s we that do things.
You think it was you that built this school? That built this parish? In our “wish list” we need more parishes, because we’re currently using 25 non-Catholic, Christian churches for services, but in the future we’ll need 25 new Catholic church buildings. When you don’t have money, you trust more in God, of course!
When I went to Germany once, I was told, “Look, we have a lot of money here, but perhaps little faith. You in Finland have little money, but a lot of faith. You guys have a future!
Poverty helps you not to get attached to many things. When you have a lot of money, you look for more money. When you have little money, you realize what’s actually necessary. You don’t fill yourself with superfluous things. That helps me.
There’s much more. Read it all.
