What's New

  • Posted:
    Danish Catholic liturgy might best be described as calm, orderly, but not formalistic, and convivial.
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    Beyond the churches and towers, Catholicism, indeed Christianity, is almost never visible in public.
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    Approximately one third of all Danish Catholics have been born abroad, and immigrant cultures often celebrate Mass separately, in their own languages.
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    Saints are not absent from Denmark's dominant Lutheran culture. One sees biblical saints’ names on Danish streets and at Lutheran churches, and one of the major Lutheran churches in Copenhagen is Our Lady's church. Still, Marian devotion is somewhat more emphasized among Catholics in Denmark.
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    Independent lay organizations do not seem to play a significant role in Danish Catholics’ lives, but Catholic charities and mission organizations are important to their identity.
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    Danes suggest that the quieter, more Lutheran qualities of their culture militate against any likelihood that charismatic religion will ever take root in Denmark.
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    In a far northern country with very short winter days, Danes do what they can to overcome the darkness of winter with light and warmth. In Denmark the connection between Christmas and winter solstice seems especially strong. Christmas season begins in a small way at schools with Luciadag, (St. Lucy’s Day) on December 13. Lucia means “light,” and in pre-Reformation Denmark, St. Lucy’s feast was tied to the winter solstice and the beginning of the return of light to the world.1 1The feast has ancient roots in Denmark, but was imported to Denmark churches in 1944 as an act of light and hope
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    Given the minimal role of saints in Danish religious culture, feasts are not a major aspect of Danish religious life, except at Christmas and Easter. The national holiday calendar looks very Christian, including two days at Christmas, four for Holy Week and Easter, Ascension Thursday, and two days for Pentecost. Even then, Danish holiday practices in the broader culture are “best understood as secular traditions with religious trappings.”1 1Phil Zuckerman, "Introduction," in Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment, ( New York: New York UP, 2008), 10
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    Danes put a strong focus on supporting family and equal rights, and matters between couples stay between the sheets.
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    While Danish parents empower their children to make their own religious choices, confirmation remains a popular cultural rite.