Married to a New Catholic Bishop in Nidaros Cathedral – NRK Trøndelag – Local News, TV and Radio

The last time a Catholic bishop was consecrated in Trondheim’s Nidaros Cathedral was in 1537. There was applause when Erik Varden was appointed a Catholic bishop on Saturday.

– Is very large. It witnesses an openness between denominations that would have been unthinkable not long ago, says Erik Varden.

He has lived as a monk in England for 20 years and had no plans to leave the convent in a rural setting in England’s East Midlands.

But last fall he was made a bishop by Pope Francis. After today’s wedding, he is ready to lead 16,000 Catholics in Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal.

– I look forward. It is a task that I have not taken on strictly speaking, but a task that has been entrusted to me. I am happy to be able to serve the church in that way. And I hope to meet people and places and hopefully be useful.

That which changed everything

Erik Varden grew up in a family that was not a practicing Christian in Rakkestad in Østfold. When I was younger, I had an almost hostile view of religion.

– It was part of my teenage besserwisser mentality. It was a kind of rebellion that I had, he says.

After high school, she moved to the UK to study. Here she visited a monastery in Wales. I was going to change everything.

– I had the first encounter with monastic life when I was 17 years old. When more or less by chance I visited a monastery in Wales. I met a very radical way of life, which probably scared me a bit at the time, but which also attracted me.

Two years later, he converted to Catholicism. Since 2002 he dedicated his life to God as a monk in the Mount Saint Bernard monastery in England.

20 years in a convent

The monks of the monastery here are also farmers. There is a lot of practical work and time to pray.

– When I see the frantic speed, no less people coming to our guesthouse. So I see how precious it is to have a daily rhythm that has several different elements. Don’t do the same thing all the time. Working with the hands and feet and the whole body is a great benefit, he believes.

Erik Varden took over the management of the Mount Saint Bernard Monastery in 2013. They started a brewery a few years ago. The farming of 120 dairy cows had become less profitable.

The life of a monk has also meant giving up one’s family.

– In my monastery we get up a little more than three at night and then there is a cycle of services and prayers and tasks that last all day until night. So being single and not having a family is a necessity. In a way, the monastic community becomes a kind of family, says Erik Varden.

New bishop an important event

There are three Catholic dioceses in Norway. Erik Varden was named bishop of the Trondheim diocese on Saturday. For more than 10 years, this diocese has not had its own bishop. The wedding is an important historical event for Norwegian Catholics.

The number of Catholics in Norway has increased considerably. In 2005 there were 45,000 registered members. Today there are just over 160,000 members in the Catholic Church. A major reason for the increase is labor immigration, especially from Poland.

Becoming a bishop is a great transition from the daily life you have had as a monk.

– I want to continue being a monk, because that is what I am in the depths. And a monk is nothing more than a person who will always be a Christian. I want to be a person who lives in communion with those whom I am destined to serve. A person you can talk to. Who has the opportunity to listen and say something sensible. To build a community, says the new Catholic bishop, Erik Varden.

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