This summer, from 31 July to 14 August, the Catholic community in the Faroe Islands was visited by Monsignor Georg Austen, Secretary General of the Bonifatiuswerk, and Fr Martin Geistbeck, a priest from Ingolstadt and chairman of the Bonifatiuswerk in the Diocese of Eichstätt.
Georg Austen and Martin Geistbeck spent two weeks in the Faroe Islands, serving as substitute priests at St Mary’s Church (Mariukirkjan). The visit also gave Fr Georg Austen and Fr Martin an opportunity to gain an insight into the everyday life of the Catholic community in the Faroe Islands and to see how a small Catholic community without a resident priest is sustained by the voluntary work of Catholics from many different countries.
The Bonifatiuswerk der deutschen Katholiken supports Catholic communities in areas where Catholics form a small minority. The organisation has also supported the Catholic Church in the Faroe Islands, including projects at St Mary’s Church and the presbytery. In connection with the visit, the Bonifatiuswerk published an article* about the Catholic community and what it is like to live as a Catholic in the Faroe Islands.
EWTN filming outside Mariukirkjan. Msgr. Georg Austen in the centre and the chairman of the parish council on the far right. Photo: Fr. Martin Geistbeck.
At the same time, the Catholic television network EWTN was also in the Faroe Islands. A film crew from Poland, Germany and the United States recorded footage at St Mary’s Church and elsewhere in the Faroe Islands for a programme about the Catholic Church and Catholic life in the Faroes.
It was therefore a special time for the community, as both the visit from the Bonifatiuswerk and the EWTN filming brought attention to Catholic life in the Faroe Islands and to a community that brings together people from many different countries.
*The German article about the visit to the Faroe Islands: "Pfarrer auf Zeit zwischen Meer, Wind und Felsen: Bonifatiuswerk der deutschen Katholiken"