The Catholic Church in Iceland inaugurated a new church this Saturday in Selfoss, in the south of the country, which will provide a stable center for the first time to a community of more than a thousand Catholics. Around 600 people took part in the consecration of the Church of the Holy Cross, presided over by the Bishop of Reykjavik, David Tencer.
The opening comes after more than two years of construction and represents a new step in the establishment of a minority but growing Church, marked especially by immigration. According to data released by the German Bonifatiuswerk, around 15,900 Catholics are currently registered in Iceland, about 4% of the population, while more than 1,000 live in the Selfoss region.
The parish of the Holy Cross was established by Tencer last year and is the ninth Catholic parish community in Iceland. Until now, its faithful celebrated Mass in rented premises and in a small chapel. The new complex includes, in addition to the church, a parish center and a priest’s residence, which will allow a priest to reside permanently in the area.
During the consecration homily, Tencer explained that the project was not solely aimed at erecting a building. «Our goal is and will always be to build in this wonderful place, together with people of good will, a living Church for the glory of God,» he stated.
Pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to priest Mercurio Claudio Rivera III, originally from the Philippines. The faithful are scattered across a wide region in southern Iceland, and some must make long car journeys to attend Mass. The new center will allow liturgical celebrations, catechesis, and other community activities to be concentrated in Selfoss.
The project has involved an investment of just over four million euros. The Bonifatiuswerk and the Commissariat for the Diaspora of the German Bishops jointly contributed more than 1.1 million euros to make it possible.
The construction also culminates a long process that began long before the works started. According to the Secretary General of the Bonifatiuswerk, Georg Austen, the first plans date back to 2010, and the project had to overcome difficulties in finding land, administrative obstacles, and delays caused, among other factors, by Icelandic weather conditions.
«This church speaks of perseverance and of people who have not lost hope,» Austen noted, describing the Holy Cross as a sign that «faith needs spaces» and of what can arise from «patience, perseverance, and trust in God.»
A minority Church that is growing in Iceland
The inauguration takes place in a context of growing Catholic presence in Iceland. The Diocese of Reykjavik covers the entire country and has a community strongly marked by immigration. According to the Bonifatiuswerk, the number of Catholics has been increasing steadily for years, largely due to the arrival of foreign population.
Currently, Catholics represent approximately 4% of the Icelandic population. The new parish of the Holy Cross brings the number of Catholic communities in the country to nine.
The Director of the Bonifatiuswerk, Ingo Imenkämper, highlighted during the ceremony the contrast between this reality and what much of the Church in Germany is currently experiencing. While there the future structure of parishes and the closure or merger of churches and parish centers is being debated, he noted, «here, in the Nordic diaspora, the opposite often happens.»
«Communities are growing. They are young and international,» Imenkämper stated during the inauguration. The head of the German organization thus presented the new church in Selfoss as an example of a Catholic community that, despite being a minority in a country with a predominantly Protestant tradition, needs new spaces to serve a growing number of faithful.