Raimo GoyarrolaMy image of the Church is a trawler".Finland. Catholic Diaspora in non-Catholic templesRaimo Goyarrola is bishop of Helsinki, Finland. Born in Bilbao, he studied medicine before being ordained a priest in 2002. Four years later he moved to Finland to minister to young university students, teach religion classes and even serve as a military chaplain. But everything changed when in 2023 Pope Francis asked him to take the reins of the Church in Helsinki as bishop of the diocese of the country's capital.
Now publishes in the editorial Palabra his book "Breaking the Ice", where he recounts anecdotes from the local Church and highlights personal initiative as the key to spreading the Gospel message throughout the world.
In this interview with Omnes, Monsignor Goyarrola not only talks about his book, but also offers a hope-filled picture of the Church in Finland, where the energy of the young people is joined by a ecumenism and the challenges of the poorest Church in Europe.
What has your experience been like leading the Church in Helsinki?
- The advantage we have in Finland is that the Church is really Catholic. We have more than 120 nationalities, people from all continents. It is a very rewarding experience, humanly speaking, because of the affection you feel.
I travel all over the country, even though I am the bishop of Helsinki. It is a very big territory, with five and a half million inhabitants. What I see is unity, affection, and sometimes I am moved, even though I am Basque. At the end of the Mass, people come to greet me, ask me for photos and share what they have in their hearts. At that moment I realize that I am a pastor, the father of this family or the elder brother, and I thank God for this gift that I do not deserve but it fills my heart.
How do you see the evolution of Catholicism in Finland in recent years?
- The local Finnish population is mostly Lutheran. Unfortunately, many of them leave their church and fall into a kind of half-spiritual, half-spiritual limbo. But it is also true that many of them, after this, come closer to the Catholic Church. I think they see the beauty of truth and goodness, because the three concepts are united and the Catholic Church offers the whole cake. We have the whole cake of two thousand years of history, tradition, Church Fathers, sacraments, morals and anthropology. What people are looking for is the whole truth, that whole cake.
In this sense, the Catholic Church is demanding. Many young Finns are coming to the Catholic faith, perhaps because of this authenticity of the demand for truth. The truth is sometimes not comfortable, but it is beautiful, and its beauty and goodness are very attractive.
The other part of our local Church is a Church from more than 120 countries, which bring their own culture, their own language and their own vision. This is a richness that attracts the locals very much. Many Finns are attracted by the large families coming from other places or by the joy that the Africans bring. Here you see the attractiveness of Catholicism.
How has the relationship between the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations in Finland been, especially in the ecumenical context?
- The relationship is exceptional. To give you an idea, we have Mass on Sundays in 33 cities and there are Catholic churches in only 7 of them. This means that in 25 cities we celebrate Mass in non-Catholic churches, namely 20 Lutheran churches and 5 Orthodox churches that we borrow for Mass.
The relationship is wonderful. We have a joint formation week for Catholic priests and Orthodox priests. Last year we had the first ever joint procession with the Orthodox on the day of Our Lady's birth, September 8. We went together in procession from the Orthodox cathedral to the Catholic cathedral, with the bishops at the head. There was Our Lady of Fatima and a Byzantine icon. The faithful were thrilled. Shortly afterwards, the Lutheran bishop asked me why I had not told him about the procession. I answered that I did not think that they wanted to go to this procession with the Virgin Mary, but he replied that this year they wanted to be there, because the Virgin is still the Mother of Jesus.
In a context of increasing secularization, what strategies is the local Church implementing to connect with the new generations?
- A year ago we founded "Juventus Catholica", an association of young Catholics in which they are free to organize their own initiatives and make their own decisions. Here we see their personal initiative and they become aware that they are the Church.
There are many young people in Finland who are lost and suffering. Spiritual loneliness is hell on earth and thanks to this association and the young people who spread the joy of the Gospel, there are many young people who come to the parishes. As an example, on Ash Wednesday this year we celebrated 6 Masses in Helsinki, last year we celebrated 4 and the year before we celebrated 2 Masses.
Here we see that young people need the authenticity and demand of the Catholic faith. Making demands on young people is positive, because we offer them something much greater: God himself.
What do you see as the main challenge facing the Church in Finland?
- In this sense, I like to talk more about opportunities and adventures. We have two clear and obvious challenges. One is distance. The nearest church for a Catholic family is sometimes 300 kilometers away. As a pastor who wants to feed his children and brothers and sisters, I want to bring the divine food, the Eucharist. That requires driving thousands of kilometers every weekend. There are many families who ask to have tabernacles in the village, but there are no churches. And here is the second challenge: the economy. We are the poorest Church in Europe. We do not manage to cover our ordinary expenses and the war between Russia and Ukraine has complicated the situation.
Besides, it is an adventure to build a diocese. I have 8 parishes in my hands and that's it. We need a diocesan structure, a Catholic school, which God willing we will open in August; a diocesan house, where there will be courses, retreats and classes, which we are going to start building in May; and a residence for the elderly, to take care of our elderly. This is an economic challenge and that is one of the reasons why I am here in Madrid. I have come to look for money, just as St. Paul went around the Churches of the Mediterranean asking for collections for Jerusalem.
I am convinced that Finland has an important mission worldwide, a special work in the Catholic Church. I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I sense that something big is going to happen, and we have to prepare for it, so we need a structure.
But the reality today is that the churches in Helsinki can no longer accommodate people. People have to go home to follow one of the 8 Masses we celebrate through the internet. What we have in Finland is a holy problem, holy because it is a blessing from God, but a problem because we need another church.
What message can the Church in Finland give to the rest of the world?
- I am not going to be the one to say what example we set for others. That can only be said by those who see us. But I do believe that the Church in Finland stands out for personal responsibility. The Finnish faithful know that they are Catholics, they are aware that the Catholic Church is not a sum of parishes, but that the Church is you and me as members of the Body of Christ.
Many Finns are the only Catholics in their environment and, instead of camouflaging themselves with others, they are not afraid to show themselves as Catholics and talk about Christ to people. They speak naturally about the Eucharist and Jesus. They are missionaries and apostles wherever they go, and this is an example for the rest of the world.
Another aspect to highlight is ecumenism. We Christians are very united in Finland. For the world to believe we need ecumenism and this is an obligation for Catholics. It makes no sense for us to criticize other Catholics and be envious. We have to look for unity among us, it is the first ecumenism that God asks of us. If the Church is united, it will be light and oxygen for the rest of Christians and for the whole world.
In your new book, "Breaking the Ice," you talk about various initiatives and projects to evangelize in Finland. Can you tell us about one that particularly touched you or had an impact you didn't expect?
- Every year I organize a trip to Lapland with a backpack of 30 kilos in which everyone carries everything they need: clothes, food, warm clothes and everything necessary for the Mass. We spend 5 days walking and contemplating. This results in conversions, vocations and confessions. It bears incredible fruit, not only because the suffering of walking 100 kilometers in the rain and snow brings a lot of unity, but also because you walk with someone and contemplate nature in silence: the fjords, the hills... God speaks here. In this contemplative silence the young people rediscover the Lord and begin to live as temples, as the tabernacles of the Holy Spirit that they are.
Why does the publication of this book seem important to you, and what conclusions do you want readers to draw from it?
- When I was asked by the publisher to write the book, the reality is that I didn't have time, but I don't know how to say no. In the summer, since I had some free time, I decided that I was going to spend some time every day playing soccer, because I love it. In the summer, as I had some free time, I decided that I was going to dedicate some time every day to play soccer, because I love it. On the second day of this resolution, I was injured for three months. Thanks to that, I made time for the book, which I think is going to do a lot of good. Not because I wrote it. The book itself has done me a lot of good, despite the modesty I feel about writing about myself. But I realize that I am not talking about what I have done, but about what God has done through me.
All Christians are called to write this book about our own lives, talking about the great things the Lord has done in us and through us. If you are faithful to God in your life, without the need to do strange things, this becomes a reality. My intention with the book is to encourage to break the ice of so many hearts that are cold because they are far from the warmth of God.
