Churches Along the Way

I usually share descriptions of the churches I visit with Café readers, but sixteen days in Scotland, Iceland, and the Netherlands did not present many opportunities to see Roman Catholic Churches. We had hoped to attend Mass in Amsterdam before our ship set cruise, but inclement weather cost us that opportunity; you don’t want to board your ship soaking and shivering.
 
Our voyage called for stops in Scotland coming and going, with a week in Iceland in between. Thus, our first visit to a Roman Catholic Church was on the Island of Lamb Holm, in the Orkney Islands chain. The edifice is known as the “Italian Chapel” because of its unusual history. The chapel/church was built during World War II by Italian prisoners of war, who were put to work by the Allies building fortifications again possible invasion from the north by Hitler’s armies. Given that the church’s construction was undertaken by volunteers with limited material, it is a very worthy site of worship. I asked a guide if the church was still in use and was told that it was packed every Sunday for the single Mass. Wikipedia has more detailed history and several photos.
 
During our visit day to Edinburgh, Scotland—the rainstorm that thoroughly soaked us—we did manage to visit St. Giles Cathedral. St. Giles was originally a Roman Catholic cathedral. However, its fiery priest-pastor John Knox, converted to the Protestant reform movement of the 1500’s, early Presbyterianism, and evidently the crown and the congregation went along. Knox is a pivotal figure in Reformation history, including the process of the British Empire adapting to established religion. Britannica has an excellent summary of his life, and I plan to take a new biography of Knox to read in Ireland. My visit to St. Giles impressed upon me the challenge of Protestant reformers with their message of simplicity and biblical worship attempting to conduct worship in Catholic edifices with medieval art and grandeur. I have a photo of St. Giles’ pulpit, which illustrates the change, I think.
 
Iceland is a story unto itself. The size of Kentucky, Iceland has seven Catholic Churches in the country. This is not surprising, as Catholics make up 3% of the country’s population. The archdiocese has a colorful webpage. I did several AI searches on religious distribution in Iceland; one entry stated: “Iceland is predominantly Lutheran Christian, with growing secularism and a revival of Norse paganism.” The general report says that church attendance is not a major priority. Something of a late bloomer in terms of social and economic establishment in the European family of nations, Iceland has a different feel. Climate and geography may have something to do with that. Straddling the Arctic Circle and given the limited population—700,000 in the entire country—my guess is that there is a hardy individualism, possibly akin to the American settlers past the Mississippi. Given that we were on a cruise ship making multiple stops and taking multiple tours, it was hard to do much face-to-face conversation, though Icelanders have marvelous mastery of the English language.
 
On our return home we were successful in hunting down a functioning Catholic parish in Lerwick, Scotland. We had found St. Olaf’s in a printed guide, and we walked a bit from the busy shopping district only to discover that, as in the United States, many churches are closed. But a kindly pedestrian told us to proceed around to St. Margaret’s Church, which was open and provided us some time for Eucharistic Adoration. I will put several photos on Facebook; Linked In only accepts six, so I will see what I can do. The church’s web page notes that there is coffee and tea for Sunday worshippers [my kind of church] and an effort is made to provide Mass several times per week. As it turned out, we were there for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Mass was scheduled for 5 PM, but our cruise ship was leaving at 4.
 
Next week we head to Ireland, beginning with two weeks in Galway. I was there in 2024, and I would bet that there are more Catholic churches in Galway than in the entire country of Iceland. As we are lodging, not sailing, there is no excuse for me to skip frequent daily Mass, except on excursion days we have booked. If my memory of the history of Ireland is correct, one of the giants of the Irish hierarchy in the latter 1800’s was Cardinal Paul Cullen. An energetic leader, I seem to remember a quote attributed to him: “A Catholic church within three miles of every Catholic Irishman.” When I travel through Ireland, it really feels that way. Of course, the Café will publish periodically during this next trip on Facebook and Linked In.