A new Catholic community linked to the parish of Helsinki will open its doors in early August: Finland’s Evangelical Lutheran Church will rent St James’s Chapel, which is part of a wide estate on the Island of Lauttasaari, in Helsinki’s district, out to the Catholic diocese of Helsinki. Therefore, both confessions will be working in the big estate, completed in 1958, which includes a big church and a big gathering place for the Christian community of the island. Catholic Masses will be officiated in Finnish and English in St James’s Chapel, as explained on the diocese’s website, and a new Catholic school will be opened in the adjoining rooms, a project that “responds to a long-standing need for developing Catholic education in Helsinki metropolitan area”. Enrolments are under way, and 7th August will be the first day of school for the children of nursery school and first to third grade of primary school. Raimo Goyarrola, Bishop of Helsinki, said words of gratitude for this start and particularly a thank-you “to God and to the Evangelical Lutheran Church for this remarkable opportunity to grow as a Christian community”.