Sør-Hålogaland is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

in the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

. The Diocese covers the Lutheran

churches located within

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The diocese is headquartered in the town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the seat of bishop Svein Valle (since november 2023). The diocese is divided into eight

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a ...

History

In 1952, the old

Diocese of Hålogaland The Diocese of Hålogaland (, historically: ) was a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covered the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within all of Northern Norway (including Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark county along with the t ...

(which covered all of

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

) was split into two: the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland (Nordland county) and the

Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland Nord-Hålogaland () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers the Church of Norway churches in Troms and Finnmark counties as well as in the territory of Svalbard. The diocese is seated in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral, t ...

(

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

, and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

Bishops

The bishops of Sør-Hålogaland since its creation in 1952: *1952–1959:

Wollert Krohn-Hansen Wollert Krohn-Hansen (28 December 1889—3 April 1973) was a Norwegian theologian and pastor. He was the Bishop of the Diocese of Hålogaland from 1940 until 1952, and was instrumental in dividing it into two smaller dioceses. After the divi ...

*1959–1969:

Hans Edvard Wisløff Hans Edvard Wisløff (1902–1969) was a Norwegian theologian and writer. He was also the Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland from 1959 until his death in 1969. Wisløff received his Cand.theol. degree in 1926 from the MF Norwegian Schoo ...

*1969–1982: Bjarne Odd Weider *1982–1992:

Fredrik Grønningsæter Fredrik Grønningsæter (26 May 1923 – 28 April 2016) was a bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland from 1982 until 1992. Grønningsæter was born in Stranda Municipality in Sunnmøre, Norway on 26 May 1923. He was the son of Fredrik ...

*1992–2006:

Øystein Ingar Larsen Øystein Ingar Larsen (born 1 November 1941 in Aker) was Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland from 1992 to 2006. Larsen grew up in Høyenhall in Aker. He received his cand.theol. degree at the MF Norwegian School of Theology in 1966. ...

*2007-2015:

Tor Berger Jørgensen Tor Berger Jørgensen (born 27 December 1945) is a Norwegian bishop who until 2015 was Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland in the Church of Norway. Appointed in 2019, he now serves as the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and ...

*2015-2023: Ann-Helen Fjeldstad Jusnes *since 2023: Svein Valle

Cathedral

The old church in Bodø was destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and after the war plans were made to replace the church and make it the cathedral for the new diocese. The foundation stone was laid in 1954 and was consecrated by Bishop

in 1956. There is also a memorial to those who died in Bodø during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Structure

The Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland is divided into eight

(). Each one corresponds to several municipalities in the diocese. Each municipality is further divided into one or more

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es which each contain one or more congregations. See each municipality below for lists of churches and parishes within them.

References

External links

Church of Norway in Bodø

Sor-Haalogaland Nordland Christian organizations established in 1952 1952 establishments in Norway Organisations based in Bodø {{Lutheran-stub