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Bishop Erik Varden OCSO has declared that the era of secularisation in Scandinavia has ended because there is "nothing left to secularise", while also heralding that a “tectonic shift” appears to now be unfolding in the opposite direction.
The Norwegian bishop, who reportedly could be a candidate for becoming the new Archbishop of Westminster, made his comments to the German magazine Communio on 19 November.
“In Scandinavia, secularisation has now come to an end. Quite simply because there is actually nothing left to secularise,” said the Trappist-monk-bishop and head of the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim.
He then explained that a counter-balancing shift seems to be emerging as a result: “The trend is clear and growing steadily – young people long for substance. I see them faithfully attending well-prepared and carefully designed Eucharists.”
Bishop Varden, who currently serves as president of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference, told the magazine that prevailing sociological data trotted out by secular organisations and media did not match his own observations.
“I am not convinced by the sociological data on religion, which suggests that religious indifference is on the rise,” he said.
“I have the utmost respect for the Pew Research Centre, but I must say that, purely empirically, the statement does not correspond with my own observations.”
He explained that what he was witnessing was “a new search for meaning, for criteria, for community, for truth”.
The bishop noted that young people in one of Europe’s most secularised regions were showing unexpected signs of spiritual interest: “You can grow up in great prosperity, without material problems, perhaps even [too much] without too many human problems. You can have everything you could possibly want and still say to yourself, ‘That’s not enough.’”
He said that 16- and 17-year-olds are visiting the cathedral bookshop or his office asking, “What is it all about? Why do I exist and what is the meaning of my life? … Does my longing for love have meaning? Does my faith in Jesus Christ have meaning?”
Bishop Varden also drew attention to the wider cultural phenomenon of people seeking transcendence even in secular fields. “The fact that human beings somehow carry a desire for the limitless within themselves is also evident in a very secular discourse, most recently in transhumanism,” he remarked.
He emphasised that the Church continues to offer a unique position, “The Church offers a space that enables us to face life as it really is.”
Bishop Erik Varden has increasingly been spoken of in Church circles as a potential successor to Cardinal Vincent Nichols at Westminster, who recently turned 80 years old, giving a candid and heartfelt interview to the Catholic Herald to mark the occasion.
Bishop Varden is the former Abbot of Mount Saint Bernard in Leicestershire and would be a popular choice among more conservative Catholics to become the next Archbishop of Westminster.
Though such talk remains firmly in the realm of rumour for now, Varden’s English formation, his years of monastic leadership in the Midlands and his profile across Europe mean that it is likely his name will at least be mentioned in Rome regarding who replaces Cardinal Nichols when he steps down from his current role as Archbishop of Westminster
Photo: Bishop Erik Varden (screenshot from katolsk.no)
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