Wielokulturowy imperatyw rozwoju społeczności katolickiej w Szwecji

Abstract

One of the minor constituents of the Catholic Church which for a considerable amount of time remained at the border, in the Diaspora, and was isolated from the Holy See, due to the overtaking of this particular Christian community by the religious-political currents of the Reformation, is the Catholic community in Scandinavia. Since two centuries ago awareness is reviving successively and a need for a return to unity is growing, still, it is a laborious and, it would seem, a long-term process. After the reformation movement’s complete take-over of the Church structure in Scandinavia, a Church remaining in unity with the Pope practically ceased to exist. However, before long, there appeared several signs of activities in favour of restoring the union with the Holy See. For the present, there are Catholic Church structures in all Scandinavia, where the constituting countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Island have their own diocese, bishops, priests and nuns who carry on evangelical and charity activities, their own religious movements that developed out of the currents and the environment of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and their own believers who consciously practice the principles of the Christian faith. The specifics of Scandinavia in relation to the Catholic population is that its structure is composed of many different nationalities, nations, cultures, rites and customs despite the small number of people. Consequently, there arises a problem of finding a wise way towards unity, so that a new, overall quality respecting the different diversities will emerge. Doomed to this creative process, among the existential dilemmas deriving from cultural diversity, the community of the Catholic Church in Sweden remains in a continuing process of finding its identity. The following article tries to describe this population in the context of its most characteristic feature – cultural diversity.