Our small Catholic Church in Finland has multiple rites and traditions through which God is praised. During the interview, Bishop Raimo listed the various rites that are celebrated more or less regularly in our country. Services and Masses are held in over twenty different languages. But what about in the future?
The Church has almost thirty different rites. In Finland the most common, as mentioned by the Bishop, are the following:
- The Latin rite; it is celebrated in all our parishes in the national languages of Finnish and sometimes also in Swedish, as well as in English. Latin is also used to a limited extent, for example in the Creed, Gloria and Our Father, and hymns in honor of the Virgin Mary.
- The Chaldean rite; this rite has about 500 adherents in Finland. Masses according to this rite are offered more or less regularly in Tampere, St. Mary’s in Helsinki and Turku. The priest for these liturgies comes from Oslo.
- The Byzantine rite; celebrated according to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic tradition. The liturgy is served in Ukrainian by Father Vitalii, who, together with his wife and children, has moved to the Helsinki area. He belongs to the clergy of St. Henry’s Cathedral. Liturgy is held once a week in Helsinki and Tampere. According to Bishop Raimo, there may be as many as over 5000 Byzantine Catholics in our country.
- In our country, Mass is also offered according to the Maronite rite in Aramaic. It is estimated that there are about 200-300 people in our country who follow this rite.
- Mass according to the Ambrosian rite is celebrated by around 100 people in our country. They do not have their own priest, but a priest comes to Finland every once in a while.
- The Eritrean rite is celebrated by Catholics who have come to our country from Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. This liturgy is offered perhaps only once a year. The priest has come from Romania.
- There are also Catholics from Slovakia who celebrate Mass according to their own national traditions. Sometimes the Mass is held according to the Latin traditional form and sometimes according to the Byzantine. They have their own priests who visit our country when necessary.
Many Rites, Languages and Traditions
In other words, there is a lot to choose from in terms of different rites and traditions. In addition, the African Community, representing almost 50 African countries and countless tribes and cultures, celebrates Mass with common African traditions, with singing and dancing. The Mass is held in Kallio Church, usually in English – a kind of lingua franca in the Catholic Church in Finland.
Mass or Liturgy is offered in dozens of languages in our country, including Arabic, Russian, Tagalog, Tigrinya and most European languages. However, Bishop Raimo reminded that Finnish should be the language that unites everyone. Our Church in Finland is part of the universal, Catholic Church, not a Finnish church. However, in Finland we of course have our own national culture, which, according to Bishop Raimo, is the real unifying cultural link.
Future of the Rites
The different rites constitute other unifying factors between different national immigrant cultures. However, perhaps they should not be seen as ‘eternal’. After immigrants have lived in Finland for a few generations, the rites die out, many believe, in the same way as the Byzantine rite offered for half a century in the Ecumenical Center, first in Rekola and later in Espoo. In the long run, there may not be room for many different culturally based rites in our country. The issue is essentially one of assimilation, as well as perhaps cost. In Finland we have our own cultural community. Meanwhile, however, the Bishop does remind us that the Church respects all different rites and traditions even if they are not offered regularly in Finland. The diversity of rites constitutes wealth.
As the Bishop of a Latin rite Diocese, Bishop Raimo also has sacramental challenges with so many different rites, including the Byzantine belief that in this tradition one receives three sacraments simultaneously, that is, Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist, as well as Confession. This complicates the regular parish catechesis and the understanding of the meaning of the Sacraments. Even the married Catholic Byzantine priests with families and children pose a certain challenge, especially in relation to the rest of the clergy.
Three points
Bishop Raimo had three key insights that he wanted to share with us.
Firstly, one’s own rite is a gift and a richness that brings responsibility. The goal should always be an encounter with God. Grace is crucial here. Secondly, a small church cannot serve everyone with different rites and languages. There are simply not enough financial and human/priestly resources for this. One has to be selective and opt out of what is, or is perceived by the hierarchy as, secondary. It is about the ‘either/or’ principle. Thirdly, everyone has a task in the Church, because the Church is Catholic.
I would like to thank Bishop Raimo for a fruitful and enlightening interview.
Jan-Peter Paul/KATT