Over the past eight years, the number of Catholics in Norway has
tripled. The number of registered members of the Catholic church has grown from 42 to 110 thousand, told Oslo bishop, Bernt Ivar Eidsvig.
One in five parishioners regularly attend the service causing reopening of many churches.
Bishop Eidsvig noted that Catholics make up only 4% of the country, but for the community it is important to stand out in society where are numerous Catholic schools and monasteries presented.
Bishop noted that Norway has more than twice Roman Catholics than it is recorded in the religious community.
"We do not know their names and addresses. Biggest problem is the lack of priests and little funding," - said the bishop .
"This situation poses the senior clergy of the church in big trouble. For example, Roman Catholics from Poland want to hold worship services in Polish. Such a situation arises in almost every parish," - implies Eidsvig.
The most important task of ensuring migrants are places for prayer, pastoral care and finding material resources to implement them. According to priest, in the coming years the dynamic development of the Catholic Church in Norway will continue.
"Looking at the statistics, we can see that the number of parishioners will grow if the economic indicators will continue to grow in Norway. Norway will require workers from countries such as Poland or Lithuania. Under these conditions, in the next five years the new prayer temples will be opened some of which are bought from the Lutheran church. Every year we dedicate two or three new priests," - concluded the bishop.