The dean of seminarians at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park is “going home” to become coadjutor and future bishop of Oslo, Norway.
Sulpician Monsignor Fredrik Hansen, who also serves as assistant professor of pastoral studies at St. Mary’s Seminary, said he’s excited to return home and that his time in Baltimore has served him well.
“It’s always exciting to be going home, but especially exciting to be serving in one’s homeland,” Bishop-elect Hansen said.
Bishop-elect Hansen learned that Pope Francis had made the appointment when he received a phone call from the Apostolic Nuncio of the Nordic Countries, Monsignor Julio Murat, while Bishop-elect Hansen was in the middle of training a class of future permanent deacons at St. Mary’s Seminary.
In Oslo, Bishop-elect Hansen will work alongside Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, 71, who has led the diocese since 2005. As coadjutor bishop, Bishop-elect Hansen will automatically succeed Bishop Eidsvig when he retires. No date for his episcopal ordination has yet been set, Bishop-elect Hansen said.
Sulpician Father Daniel F. Moore, provincial superior of the Priests of the Society of St. Sulpice, Province of the United States, announced Bishop-elect Hansen’s appointment by Pope Francis in a Nov. 1 media release by the Sulpicians.
“It is with mixed emotions that I make this announcement, as it will mean losing a cherished colleague in priestly formation,” Father Moore said in the release. “However, the U.S. Province is honored to know that one of our confreres has been chosen to serve as a bishop in his home diocese. I wish Bishop-Elect Hansen every blessing in his forthcoming ministry.”
In addition to his native Norwegian, the 45-year-old Bishop-elect Hansen is fluent in English, German, Italian and Spanish. Those language skills will serve him well in a Catholic diocese that Monsignor Hansen said is expanding significantly with immigrants from Poland, the Philippines, Africa, Latin America and Sri Lanka.
“The diocese, although smaller, is quite similar to Baltimore with a multitude of cultures and languages,” said Bishop-elect Hansen, who noted the delight he took in celebrating Masses in Spanish on weekends at Sacred Heart in Glyndon, St. Rose of Lima in Brooklyn and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Edgewater.
He also said his work in Baltimore teaching future priests and deacons will be of great benefit.
“To be able to be a part of formation is very important,” he said. “That will play a big role in my first duties. It’s also been helpful to have a chance to assist in parishes because that pastoral experience will come in handy.”
He looks forward to reuniting with his mother, Brita, and sister, Ann-Kristin, in his hometown of Drammen, a port city with a population of just more than 100,000 in southeastern Norway.
He said he cherishes his time in the United States.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” he said. “They greeted me with open arms in Baltimore, and I’m very thankful for the experience.”
At St. Mary’s, he taught courses on canon law, ecclesiology, the diplomatic corps and Hispanic ministry.
Bishop-elect Hansen, a veteran of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps, has been a candidate for the U.S. Province of the Society of Saint Sulpice and a member of the St. Mary’s faculty since 2022.
“My familiarity with the world church will be helpful,” said Monsignor Hansen, who is scheduled to fly to Norway Nov. 4.
He holds degrees from the University of Oslo, Heythrop College, University of London, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Pontifical Gregorian University.
Ordained to the priesthood in 2007 for the Diocese of Oslo, Bishop-elect Hansen has served as private secretary to the bishop of Oslo, secretary to the Norwegian Council of Catholic Bishops and ecclesiastical judge in the Tribunal in Oslo. During his time in Rome, he was vice-rector at the Pontifical Teutonic College Santa Maria dell’Anima and studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.
Prior to coming to St. Mary’s, Bishop-elect Hansen served in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See, at the Nunciature in Honduras (2013–2015), at the Mission to the United Nations in Vienna (2015–2019) and at the Mission to the United Nations in New York (2019–2022).
The Diocese of Oslo serves a Catholic population of more than 145,000 in 25 parishes.
Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org
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