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The Day of the Abbey's Parishes - 2008
by Dom Albert
I
am delighted in a most extraordinary way to have the opportunity to be able
to speak a little about my experience and my impressions as a foreign,
namely, Polish priest, who has lived and worked in Austria and Norway.
But first I would like to introduce myself. My name is Albert Maczka. I come
from a Christian family in Poland. That is hardly a big surprise since about
95% of Polish families are Catholic. I was born in 1967 near Krakow in a
town called Kielce, and although it was not always easy – due to the
Communist regime – I was nevertheless raised a Catholic. As teenagers, it
was clear to me and my friends that we stood with the Church and – at least
in spirit – defended Her against the Communists. For many years I was an
Altar Boy and very much engaged in youth ministry. After my Matura (more or
less equivalent to a high school graduation) I entered the seminary for the
diocese of Kielce and at age 25 I was ordained a priest. Before I entered
Stift Klosterneuburg, I had worked as a parochial vicar for 13 years in
three different parishes. I began the novitiate on August 28, 2005 and then
I spent the first year of my juniorate in the three parishes of the Donautal
run by Klosterneuburg: St. Martin’s, St. Vitus’ and St. Margereta’s. From
the outsight I very much wanted to get to know the mentality of the people
here in Austria, both of my confrères and of the parishioners with whom I
would be working. The same goes for the parochial life and diocesan
organization, which are quite different from those found in my homeland. For
example, I am thinking of the roles played by parish councils and committees
and in general widespread lay involvement. Back home in Poland, the parishes
are far more oriented to the priests as they are in Austria. The priests in
Poland might modify the famous dictum, L’état c’est moi, (I am the State) to
state, L’eglise, c’est moi, (I am the Church): the priest is a kind of
personal union of everything: parish council, finance committee and church
leader. Such was my experience of the Church and parish work before I
arrived in Austria. Above all I have had to learn how to work and interact
with people who are very much involved with the ministry of the Church. The
wide array of social and charitable works of the Church and parishes in
Austria, which among other things support the Church in other parts of the
world, particularly impress me. Moreover, my impression is that the Church
in Austria possesses a great many riches – not only cultural, but also the
many good works of the faithful. Culture and the Church go together in
Austria, while in Poland, on account of the Communists, the Church had to
create a counter-culture, which was not allowed a place in the public
sphere.
A further difference is the stark contrast between the pastoral challenges
in these two countries. The Church in Poland is still a church of the Polish
people, while the same cannot be said of the Church in Austria. Practically
this means that Polish Catholics come to the Mass and participate in the
life of the Church as a matter of course, while the same cannot be said of
Austrian Catholics. Even for Polish youth it is not a matter of whether one
should go the Mass, but rather which Mass one shall attend.
Another thing that strikes me, is that for the majority of Polish Catholics
the sacraments play a far more important role than they do for Austrian
Catholics. That means that the Eucharist and Confession are extremely
important. I was really surprised to discover that in Austria the word “sin”
is hardly ever used, whereas in Poland there is a clear and widespread
awareness that sin is a real part of our life.
In Austria there are many foreigners who also have a Catholic background.
From my perspective, these groups normally do not have a problem with
integration. They usually learn to speak German so quickly that they do not
have problem joining a parish. In addition, various groups have their own
national parishes, such as the Polish one on the Rennweg in Vienna.
Since the first of December last year, I have been working as a parochial
vicar in the Catholic parish (also administered by Stift Klosterneuburg) in
Bergen, Norway. Here in turn I have come across yet another completely
different situation, which resembles neither Austria nor Poland. The
Catholics in Norway are a minority – as of 2005 there were 44,000 Catholics
– about one percent of the national population. Moreover, the sizes and
distances are completely different: the parish in Bergen encompasses an area
18,356 square miles (29,541 square kilometers) – as large as the country of
Belgium. Not surprisingly, St. Paul’s is also the largest parish in the
diocese of Oslo, which encompasses 96,039 square miles (154,560 square
kilometers).
Shortly after the end of the centuries long prohibition against the Catholic
Church in Norway in the middle of the 19th Century, St. Paul’s was founded,
exactly 150 years ago. At that time, the parish included a pastor and 20
Catholics, all of them immigrants. Beginning in the 1970’s both the
congregation and the parochial life grew considerably. Refugees from all
over the world made a new home in Norway. Mainly these were Tamils,
Chileans, Vietnamese and even a few Poles. Today only 28% of Catholics in
Norway are native born – a figure which includes the children of immigrants
as well. Consequently, the Norwegians are often a minority in the parishes.
The majority of Catholics come from Asia, Latin America and Poland. At the
moment, St. Paul’s has approximately 7,000 registered Catholics. There are
many more who are not registered however. This is complicated by the fact
that the Norwegian state does not share its information – at least with the
Catholic Church. The 7,000 registered Catholics in Bergen come from 86
different countries. Consequently, one can say that almost the entire world
is represented at the parish.
The attitude of Norwegians towards the Catholic Church has changed in the
last 20 to 30 years from one of rejection to total indifference, which is
mainly a result of the nearly complete secularization of Norwegian society.
Religion plays only a very small roll on the margins of society. In the city
of Bergen, St. Paul’s, the only Catholic parish in the whole area, sees more
worshippers than all the parishes of the Norwegian State Church combined on
any given Sunday. Nevertheless, it can still happen that one is asked
whether a Catholic is really a Christian!
The Norwegian economy is booming. There is no unemployment – on the
contrary, the need for workers is so dire that Norway must obtain workers
from abroad. Therefore, for example, in 2006 approximately 70,000 Poles came
to Norway to work. Today there are about 120,000 Poles working in Poland,
the majority of whom are staying for long periods. This situation naturally
brings difficulties and challenges because the Polish workers are Catholics
in need of both pastoral care and sacramental ministry. Many of the
immigrants face personal difficulties on account of their long term
separation from their families. In other countries, it is common for
immigrant groups to gather and build a national parish. However, in the
whole of Norway there is not one Polish parish.
One of the biggest problems is that there is the lack of a strong tradition
of Norwegian Catholicism. Most Norwegian Catholics are converts in the first
or second generation, who naturally do not possess a long Catholic heritage.
Even the current bishop of Oslo, who is also a convert, most likely only
became acquainted with many popular liturgical and devotion customs in
Klosterneuburg. In contrast, many of the Catholic immigrants have brought
their own distinctive customs and traditions to the parish. When one,
therefore, speaks of integration, one really has to ask, into which
tradition or which identity one must be integrated. The pastoral situation
may be described as a unity in diversity, that is, that the parish hosts
numerous distinct national subgroups with in the whole. Seen this way, the
Norwegian Catholics are often only one subgroup among many. Precisely for
this reason, one understands the urgent need for each national group to have
its own priest, which of course is not always easy to achieve.
Some years ago Stift Klosterneuburg responded to the appeal of the Catholic
Church in Norway by sending some of the Canons to Bergen. Since 2006, no
other ecclesiastical institution has responded as quickly or as promptly to
the pastoral challenge of the Polish immigration as Stift Klosterneuburg. I
was sent to Norway because I am Polish priest able to assist the Polish
Catholics who often do not speak or understand Norwegian well. On this
account, one can absolutely say that the Stift has done trailblazing work in
Norway. It is certainly not self-evident that, in a period of scarcity of
priests, one would send some of those few priests one has to take on a new
commitment. But in so doing, I believe, one witnesses the true meaning of
generosity, which is not to share from one’s surplus, but to share from
one’s own dire need.
My principal work in Bergen does not however hat to do with mentalities and
traditions. Rather pastoral work centers on the sacramental ministry that I
knew well as a priest in Poland. Rather, what I do find to be the greatest
need is the encouragement of lay collaboration. Thanks to my good
experiences in Austria, I have resources from which to draw in order to meet
this challenge. I am grateful for the chance I had to witness so many
examples of outstanding collaboration with the laity in the parishes and in
charitable programs. I can well imagine that much of this will be helpful in
the Norwegian context. On the other hand, I have had a very positive
experience of a well- run cooperation among the national groups within the
parish, who, though they each have their own Masses, catechesis and social
activities, nonetheless understand that they are not first of all, Tamils,
Norwegians, Poles or Vietnamese, but rather Catholics. Despite all the
diversity, there is still one church and one parish.
Nevertheless this diversity presents us with many challenges. Since there
are not always priests available to offer the Mass in each language, the
other priests must do the best they can to compensate for this lack. So for
example, it can happen that a priest celebrates the Mass in Norwegian for a
predominantly Vietnamese congregation. The priest offers the Mass in
Norwegian and the faithful respond and sing in Vietnamese. Current we have
seven Masses each Sunday of which three are celebrated in Norwegian. The
other Masses may be celebrated in Vietnamese, Latin, English, French,
Tagalog, Spanish, Polish and Tamil. The seating capacity of 350 places and
the additional standing capacity of 150 places have become insufficient to
accommodate the ever-increasing size of the congregation. At the larger
Masses the faithful must stand or even kneel out on the steps of the front
of the church since there is not enough space in the church.
Masses are not only celebrated within the city of Bergen. The priests must
travel, often and far, to bring the sacraments to Catholics living in remote
parts of the parish. Sometimes the distances are so great and the visits so
numerous that it requires me to stay overnight, since I can be travelling
for over sixteen hours.
A further challenge is that our parish is very young. Consequently we must
exert much time and energy on catechesis, which is taught not only in
Norwegian, but also many other languages. Moreover the great distances make
catechesis even more difficult. Children preparing for Confirmation and
First Holy Communion who live far way from the parish often find it
impossible to make the long journey to Bergen during the winter months.
Last year we had 110 baptisms in Bergen and only 10 funerals. I dreamt of
just such circumstances when I was in Austria. I especially enjoy the fact
that in Bergen I am able to spend many, many hours hearing confessions –
just as I did when I was a priest in Poland. The faithful – and not only the
Poles – wait patiently in a long line to come to confession.
In conclusion, I would like to summarize by saying that I think Stift
Klosterneuburg has read surprising well the “Signs of these quickly changing
Times” and responded courageously, decisively and joyfully to the appeal of
the Catholic Church in Norway. Of course the Stift has already been for some
time underway to a truly catholic – that is, international – community with
canons and seminarians from many different countries. The main work of our
community is the pastoral care of the parishes that belong to the abbey. But
at the same time, the Catholic Church never thinks just locally since, in
Her essence, She is universal.
I also believe that it is possible to foresee that one day Austria might
encounter a similar pastoral challenge to that in Norway and other European
countries, because of the accelerating process of globalization. Therefore,
one can see how these experiences in Norway offer a unique opportunity to
learn how to face these potential challenges. Many of the priests working in
the archdiocese of Vienna have a foreign background. I suppose that in the
medium-term the composition of many Austrian parishes will become more
diverse and international.
In any case, I have found the experiences, which I have been permitted to
collect during these last two years, to be extremely important to me,
because they have helped to broaden my horizon and to understand was it
really means to be Catholic.
I am grateful to the Stift and especially to the Most Reverend Prelate
Bernhard for the opportunity to work in Norway and to take care of my fellow
countrymen in their present extremely difficult circumstances.
Thank you.
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