Quel avenir pour quelles églises ? / What future for which churches?

24. Perspectives on the Management of Church Buildings in Norway

24 Tout en jetant un regard sur la situation dans d’autres pays nordiques, particulièrement en Scandinavie, cet article s’attarde à celle de l’Église de Norvège et, plus précisément, de ses lieux de culte. On y découvre les lois et les règlements de cette église nationale, ainsi que l’état actuel des bâtiments religieux, leur nombre, leur âge, leurs conditions techniques et leurs besoins en matière de restauration et de conservation. Puis, dans le contexte de changements sociaux et démographiques, de même qu’à la lumière du processus en cours de transformation d’une Église d’État en une église nationale libre, cet article s’interroge sur les modalités de gestion des églises, aussi bien en termes d’usage que d’affectation. Scénarios et stratégies du patrimoine, enfin, offrent une première réponse à la question «Que nous réserve l’avenir?» Perspectives on the Management of Church Buildings in Norway Today and in the Future Max Ingar Mørk1© 2006 – Presses de l’Université du Québec Édifice Le Delta I, 2875, boul. Laurier, bureau 450, Québec, Québec G1V 2M2 • Tél. : (418) 657-4399 – www.puq.ca Tiré de : Quel avenir pour quelles églises?, Lucie K. Morisset, Luc Noppen et Thomas Coomans (dir.), ISBN 2-7605-1431-5 • D1431N Tous droits de reproduction, de traduction et d’adaptation réservés 442 Quel avenir pour quelles églises? / What future for which churches?© 2006 – Presses de l’Université du Québec Édifice Le Delta I, 2875, boul. Laurier, bureau 450, Québec, Québec G1V 2M2 • Tél. : (418) 657-4399 – www.puq.ca Tiré de : Quel avenir pour quelles églises?, Lucie K. Morisset, Luc Noppen et Thomas Coomans (dir.), ISBN 2-7605-1431-5 • D1431N Tous droits de reproduction, de traduction et d’adaptation réservés There have always been close relations between the five Nordic countries—Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. Localized on the outskirt of Europe, much of their cultural and political history is woven together in a common fate. This article draws some perspectives on the management of church buildings in Norway, with a glance at the corresponding situation in the other Nordic countries. It deals with church legislation, organization, and funding, church buildings and their condition, and actual trends and challenges for the church buildings in the future.¢ The Nordic National Churches The Roman Catholic Church took root in the Nordic countries in the tenth century. Christianity gradually made its entry and civilized the rebellious Vikings from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark who were feared for their ravage trips around in Europe. Supported by Christian kings, the Church established itself quite fast and formed a firm organization with archbishop seats in Lund in Sweden and Nidaros (Trondheim) in Norway. During the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church was replaced with Evangelic-Lutheran churches in all of the five Nordic countries. Those “sister churches” have developed within the scope of a State Church with the king or the president as the head and the National Assembly as the legislative power. The churches are organized in geographical parishes, deaneries, and dioceses and have a uniform clerical structure with rectors, deans, and bishops. At the local level, democratic elected church councils are responsible for the local church management and activity. In Sweden, the State Church tradition was broken in 2000, when the Church of Sweden was established as a free national Church. In the other Nordic countries, the churches are relatively independent, but in Norway and Denmark, the Government still appoints deans and bishops. The Norwegian constitution even requires that the king and at least half of the cabinet ministers are to be members of the Church of Norway. From 80 to 90 percent of the people are members of the Nordic national churches. The churchgoing, however, is among the lowest in the world; only 4-5 percent of the population attends service regularly. 1. The author is Special Advisor to the Church of Norway Employers’ Association. He is a former advisor at the Bishop’s Office in the Diocese of Møre. In 2004, he co-authored “Norwegian Stave Churches as Historical Examples of Sustainable Construction” in Proceedings of the Third European Research Symposium in Facilities Management, EuroFM, Copenhagen, as well as “The Norwegian Model of Life Cycle Costs Applied to Churches in Norway” in Proceedings of the World Building Congress, CIB, Toronto. [18.222.108.18...