Structure
The country is divided into three Church districts – the Diocese of Oslo and the prelatures of Trondheim and Tromsø, and these three consist of 35 parishes. At least two more are about to come, a third one in the city of Oslo (St. Martin) and one in Valdres (St. Thomas, by now a chapel district), both of them in the diocese of Oslo. The Catholic Church is about to become the second biggest religious community in Norway by amount of registered members - and with the unofficial number of 230 000, they already are.
Four religious orders have returned to Norway: the Cistercians, Dominicans, the Poor Clares, and the Trappistines. In 2009, monks from the Abbey of Citeaux dedicated a new monastery in Norway, naming it Munkeby Mariakloster. Trappistine nuns, likewise, bought land near the ruins of a pre-Reformation monastery on the island of Tautra in the Trondheim Fjord, moved to the site and built a new cloister, workplace, guesthouse and chapel, calling the new monastery, Tautra Mariakloster. In addition to these four, 17 other orders are also working in the country, for instance the St. Francis Xavier sisters, which is a unique order as it is founded in Norway. The Bishop of Oslo participates in the Scandinavian Bishops Conference.
There used to be several Catholic hospitals and schools around the country. There was also a Catholic orphanage in Oslo. Between 1967 and 1989, the Socialist government in Norway bought most of the Catholic (and other private) hospitals by force; the rest were condemned. Almost all of the schools were closed due to too few students, with only the schools in Oslo, Arendal and Bergen survived.
Nowadays, the Catholic welfare institutions in Norway are limited. There are no Catholic hospitals or orphanages remaining, though the number of Catholic schools are increasing. In addition to the three schools mentioned above, a new elementary school has opened in Bodø. There's a Catholic high school in Bergen opening in the autumn of 2012, and an elementary school is planned for Drammen.
Fransiskushjelpen, a charity established in 1956 and run by Franciscans, remains active; Caritas Europa has an office in Oslo.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholicism In Norway
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