Last week-end the inhabitants of the Owlery participated at the Book Fair in Copenhagen. It had moved to a new, bigger place, which was great for us, as we're normally cooked on the balcony Saturday evening, where most people visit the Fair. This year it was grund floor only, and although the number of visitors was the bigges ever, walkiong around was not impossible.
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Skribenten og Uglemor brugte en stor del af torsdagen på at stille vores stand op - og på at komme hjem. Vi blev fanget i den Københavnske myldretid, så hjemturen endte med at tage næsten lige så længe som det at stille op. Øv.
We, the Writer and MotherOwl used almost all Thursday to put up the booth and get home. As we were trapped in the rush hour, getting home lasted almost as long as the setting up part.
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Uglemor,
SvarSletWhat sort of books did you have on your display? Is your husband an author or perhaps a publisher?
My husband is the manager of a minuscule Catholic publishing house. It is not his work, but an unpaid volunter work, as Catholics in Denmark is a "redlisted species". We are approximately half a percent of the population. Of those many are not practising or immigrants. Katolsk Forlag (the name of the publishing house) publish 2 - 6 books a year. We have dictionary of saints, the Chathecism (a co-work with a big publishing house) divers books on religious subjects, and prayer cards. Then we sell - only on the fair - rosaries and candles and so on.
SvarSletWe exist only via our webshop, (http://www.katolskforlag.dk/kategori.html) but our books can be taken home by bookstores in all Denmark.
Uglemor,
SletThank you for answering my question. I didn't realise that there are so few Catholics in your country. Maybe your parish is small? Do you children go to Catholic schools? More questions!
I remember when Australian Mary Donaldson married Danish Crown Prince Frederik, and Mary had to take the religion of her husband. Obviously she had no strong beliefs she was reluctant to give up. Did she adopt the Lutheran religion?
My husband and I do some volunteer work for an apostolate that publishes and sells Catholic books and piety items. It is so important that people have access to faith resources. I will visit the webshop your husband manages. Probably I won't be able to understand anything but I will look anyway!
God bless!
I do actually like questions. I am just sometimes slow in answering. These days I'm busy editing a trimonthly catholic magazine - also a small thing. All things catholic in Denmark are small, all Danish parishes are small ;) Our was 400 people, now we've been combined with another, bigger one we're somwhat more than 1.000. Denmark is only one diocese, numerically the size of an Italian country parish, but the biggest in area, all Greenland is included - mostly ice. As we live 46 km away from our parish church, and the school, our children do not go to a catholic school. Neither do we go to mass on workdays. I know distances in Denmark are not much compared to Australian measurements, but I still hope you live closer to a church.
SletI'm lookin forward to hearing your thougths on our web shop, and please tell a bit about being a catholic in Australia.
In order to be a King or Queen of Denmark you have to belong to the Danish lutheran state church. It's in the law. A wast majority (80%) of the Danes belong to this church, but attendance and praxis are at an ebb.
I would guess that you and your husband in your work for the apostolate sell far more books and piety items than we do. The situation here is rather dismal, as we're below critical mass. Especially now with the dark part of the year nearing - and christmas, which is a secular thing here, all Santa and his elfs and almost no Jesus, we're feeling rather lonely. Cahtolic bloggers like yourself are a great inspiration.
Uglemor,
SletThank you for answering all my questions! I am glad you don't mind sharing. It is interesting finding out about your life in Denmark.
We also belong to a combined parish. We lost our priest some years ago because of a shortage. So now our priest says Mass some days at one of our parish churches, and some days at the other. On Sundays he celebrates 2 Masses at each church.
It takes us about 20 minutes to get to the nearest church, by car, and nearer 30 minutes to drive to the other one. We also live in a village. The two churches are in different small towns near us. If we lived in the city there would be lots of churches close to each other. But we live in a area of farming and bushland and our population is spread out.
I guess there are about 60 parishioners at our usual Sunday 7.30 am Mass, more at the 9 am Mass. Catholics make up 1/4 of the local population. There are more Anglicans than Catholics. Both our churches have an attached Catholic school, though as you know we homeschool.
Your book website looks attractive! Of course I couldn't read the titles but I can see the images and prices set out. It's much better than our website which is about to be upgraded. We need more images and details about the books.
How many hours of daylight do you get in winter? We have daylight saving at the moment. It is light before 6 am and not dark until well after 8 pm.
I am grateful for the Internet. It connects us all together wherever we live in the world. I don't see friends very often. They live too far away. Like you, I appreciate the contact with other bloggers. I think I could get very lonely if I didn't have my online friends.
Catholics are accepted in our culture. We still have Christmas and not Happy Holidays though many people are not truly religious. Our prime minister though is an atheist, and we are fighting to keep our laws based on traditional marriage and values. Most Australians love singing Christmas carols. In the lead up to Christmas most families will attend a Carols by Candlelight event, even if they don't intend going to church at Christmas. Lots of people gather in a park in the evening, light candles and sing carols. Santa usually arrives with gifts for the children.
God bless!