There’s a tiny corner of Catholicism we don’t hear much about, way up near the Arctic Circle. But the website Total Catholic has just corrected that injustice, with a look at Catholic life among the handful of the faithful in Greenland:

While more than 80 per cent of its one million square miles is covered by an ice-cap which is a couple of miles thick in some places, Greenland is statistically the world’s largest island.

In a population of 57,000 people, there are only 50 registered Roman Catholics. These form part of the parish of Christ the King in Nuuk, the island’s capital.Nuuk, the capital of Greenland

The Catholics are all non-Greenlanders except for four. They come from all parts of the world, and most of them are only in the territory for a short time – most for less than three years. Therefore, there’s a constant flow of changing parishioners.

There is only one church and one parish house and these are in Nuuk. The town was established in 1728 by Danish Lutheran Missionary Hans Egede.

Since 1997 there has not been a resident priest there, but an Oblate Missionary of Mary Immaculate is the parish priest and he commutes there from his far flung parish in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Fr Paul MarxFr Paul Marx himself is not there all year round – he stays for seven or eight months. In Nuuk, there are about 20 Catholics with the remaining 30 spread out along the southwest and east coast.

The Sunday congregation varies from five or six to 23 or so. Usually a number of non-Catholics also attend on a regular basis. In the summer of 1980, the Little Sisters of Jesus established a fraternity in Nuuk with three sisters.

When asked how he feels to be the only Catholic priest in such an isolated country, Fr Marx replied: “Great! I enjoy it and find it challenging. However, I realise that to minister in Greenland as the only Catholic priest, one needs a special grace and calling from God. Greenland is a contemplative country which suits my temperament.”

Fr. Marx goes on to explain some of the history of Greenland’s Catholicism, which dates all the way back to the first millennium.