Bishop Ramón Goyarrola, bishop of the Diocese of Helsinki (Finland) since November last year, explains some of the challenges of his evangelizing task in Nordic lands, where Catholics are a minority and where a church can be 500 kilometers away from the house of the faithful.
The prelate, a member of Opus Dei since 1987, was recently in Bilbao (Spain), his homeland, where he commented that “his ministry is very intense. “I want to be with people.”
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“It is a very big country and I travel many kilometers, in all types of means of transportation, by car, by train, by plane, by boat, by bicycle and even running. We are a small family, about 20,000 Catholics. “I am moved by the affection and unity we have among us,” highlighted the 54-year-old bishop, who serves Catholics who make up less than 1% of the population, distributed in eight parishes.
In statements to Radio Popular On May 27, Bishop Goyarrola comments that his projects are “a Catholic school, a nursing home, a youth camp, a house for spiritual exercises. There is no diocesan structure to be able to meet. There are four churches in four cities. “They are projects in which we have a lot of faith and a lot of enthusiasm and no money.”
However, despite the lack of funds, the Spanish bishop highlights that “we count on Jesus and that will work out. Bring Jesus’ message of peace and joy. Taking into account the circumstances of wars and migratory processes, it is a church that welcomes migrants and refugees.”
“Thank God we have churches full. Many people go to Mass on Sundays. It is true that the great challenge is the distance. The nearest church may be 100 kilometers or 200, 300 or even 500. For many it is difficult to go,” he said.
“Believing in a minority”
Bishop Ramón Goyarrola recently gave a conference in Bilbao entitled “Believing in a minority. The great adventure of evangelization”, in which he stressed that “if we believe, everything is possible”.
“I insisted at the beginning that what is important is the personal relationship we have with Jesus, prayer, the sacraments are the basis of everything. Transmitting the Gospel is the great truth, the great dose of happiness that we all need,” he continued.
Faced with this reality, said the prelate, suffering appears; but it is something that can make sense with Jesus, they are his total surrender.
“Suffering is a mystery. I believe that in the world we live in there is much more good than evil and in each of us there is much more good than evil. I start from this reality. “Jesus has chosen the cross as the path of salvation,” he highlighted.
Who is Ramón Goyarrola?
Mons. Ramón Goyarrola was appointed Bishop of Helsinki (Finland) by Pope Francis on September 29, 2023. He assumed the pastoral government of the Finnish diocese in November of the same year.
He was born on July 20, 1969 in Bilbao and in 1987 he entered the personal Prelature of Opus Dei. He is 54 years old.
He graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarra (Spain) and, later as a doctor, he studied Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome (Italy), obtaining a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology.
On September 1, 2002 he was ordained a priest. He has been working in Finland since 2006.
His first mission in the country was as chaplain of a student residence. In 2011 he was appointed vicar general of the Diocese of Helsinki. He served in prisons, in ministry with the military and led seminars, with doctors and nurses, on palliative care.
He received episcopal consecration on November 25, 2023.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.