Resources for English Masses Abroad

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Snafturi

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I’m heading to Norway for a couple of weeks and I do want to attend Mass while I’m there. I’m not sure where I’d look to find out if there’s any English language services. I know I don’t know enough Norwegian to follow along in a non-English service. Do I go and just fake it the best I can? I really hate to miss any of the Lenten Masses.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.🙂
 
carry any of the standard pocket missalettes with you, like Word Among Us, Magnificat, St. Joseph 2008 Missal or simply look up the readings in your bible, and either read them beforehand or follow along in your missal. different language is no excuse to miss Mass. follow the prayers from memory if you don’t have an aide to use.
 
That’s a great idea. Thanks. I assume the order of Mass will be the same, so I shouldn’t be entirely lost.
 
Here’s the English speaking Catholic Church in Stvanger:

stavanger.katolsk.no/english/esc_wint07.htm

Here’s a list of churches in Oslo, and there is a Catholic English-speaking church listed:

awcoslo.org/Sections/LivingInOslo/churches.htm

I just googled the terms English speaking Catholic Church Norway and got these hits. You could email the Stvanger church and see if they know of others if you aren’t going to be in Oslo or Stvanger.

But, if you can’t find an English speaking church, just go in Norweigan. I’ve been in many languages. You can pretty much follow along.
 
Email the Chancellory office for the diocese you are going to.

You might have more luck finding a Latin Mass. I used to do a lot of international travel for work, and I usually emailed the diocesan offices ( web search) prior and got a list of what English or Latin Masses were offered. The large majority of the time, there were not any English masses, but Latin ones were gnerally offered.

That is how I heard Mass Germany, France, Korea , Japan and the Neitherlands and Turkey.

In that way, if you get familair with the Mass in one language (Latin), you can take it globally.
 
Some of the most memorable Masses I have attended were in a language I did not understand. One of the many blessings in being Catholic is that the order of the Mass is pretty much the same anywhere and it is fairly easy to figure out where you are. Actually, attending in a foreign language often sharpens my attention to detail and my mind doesn’t drift as often.

I once attended Mass at St. Peter’s Church in Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. I was the only person in attendance with a Franciscan Priest from Germany. He only spoke German, I responded in English - it was incredible!

Enjoy your trip and I pray for a safe return.

Yours,
David
 
In college when I slept in too late on Sundays (lazy bones!) I would walk about half a mile from my dorm to catch the Korean Language Mass at 2pm.

Everything was in Korean - a language I don’t speak - but I never once felt out of place, awkward, or unaware what was going on. When the readings for the day were read, I just read them in English out of the missallette in the pew.

The singing was absolutely beautiful.

I did run into some other caucasian kids there from time to time. When I asked them if they slept in too, one told me “No, I just dig this Mass” and the other explained she was taking Korean at the university.

So get a missal and “go native” - it might be fun!
 
stanthonyserver said:
I once attended Mass at St. Peter’s Church in Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. I was the only person in attendance with a Franciscan Priest from Germany. He only spoke German, I responded in English - it was incredible!
David
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I did the rosary in three languages with two other people once. I was hopeless and did English, the other did Latin, the third did Slovak.

It was kind of cool.
 
Snafturi said:
I’m heading to Norway for a couple of weeks and I do want to attend Mass while I’m there. I’m not sure where I’d look to find out if there’s any English language services. I know I don’t know enough Norwegian to follow along in a non-English service. Do I go and just fake it the best I can? I really hate to miss any of the Lenten Masses.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.🙂
Click to expand...
You don’t have to know the language, as the physical actions of the priest are the same regardless of the language the prayers are said in, and you can follow the mass visually.

Before the 90s, almost all of the masses I heard were in a foreign language, mostly Polish or Slovak and before 1970 in Latin. I don’t understand any of those languages.
 
Or you could just learn Norwegian.😛

Anyway, many of the Catholics in Norway are immigrants. Norway is Protestant. So the masses in Oslo are in Norwegian,English, Spanish, Tagalog, Croatian and Vietnamese. You can go to all of them if you want to.:p;)
 
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