Meet The Chaplain For Norwegian Students In The United States
Odd Inge Tangen poses on the roof of the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Manhattan. Photo by Natalie Hognestad.
NEW YORK — As a college student, Odd Inge Tangen found comfort with his university chaplain during his seminary years, confiding his biggest secret to her. Now, Tangen is a chaplain to Norwegian students in North America, working for the Norwegian Seamen's Church.
He has lived in New York City for the past five years at the Norwegian Seamen's Church in Midtown Manhattan. Through the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad, Tangen meets and guides Norwegian students living in New York and across the country. Many of them are not religious, and he does not try to evangelize them. His goal is to be present to the students like his university chaplain was to him.
“I was around 13 or 14 when I understood I might be gay. I remember hoping and praying the feelings would go away, but of course they didn’t,” Tangen said while taking a sip of his coffee.
LGBTQ topics weren’t really talked about in the Norwegian Christian community while he was a student, Tangen said. He felt alone. Throughout all of his childhood, he and his family would go to church, and he has always been active in the community. He wanted to remain a committed person of faith, yet feel whole as a gay man. So he began to study theology.
In his second year at the Norwegian Congregation School of Theology, Religion and Society in Oslo, Norway, one of his professors assigned the class a task that Tangen never will forget: Pursue two activities outside your comfort zone.
“The first challenge for me was to invite a neighbor out for coffee, and the second was to reach out to the university chaplain,” Tangen said.
The university chaplain at his seminary became an important person for Tangen that day.
“She was actually the first person I told that I was gay,” he continued. “I remember feeling like the entire foundations underneath me were shaking as I did so.”
Tangen called that conversation with the chaplain “life changing,” not primarily because of what she said but how she was present and showed her support in a difficult time. She listened to him and all of his thoughts, helping him sort out his feelings and eventually find joy and pride in being gay.
“That’s when I understood that I not only wanted to continue my education in theology, but I also felt drawn towards pastoral care and chaplaincy,” Tangen said.
Being Norwegian in New York
The Norwegian Seamen’s Church made the position as a chaplain for students available in Europe in the 1970s and in the U.S. in the ’80s. There are five chaplains who work for the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in total — three in Europe, one that covers Australia and New Zealand, and Tangen himself in North America.
“To be able to live and work in New York is truly a blessing,” Tangen said. Although Tangen is a huge fan of the Big Apple, it wasn’t the city itself that he was drawn to, but the job: “I have felt the meaning of being a student and sharing thoughts with a chaplain when I was a student myself, and to be able to have that as my job here in North America is truly wonderful.”
While he’s based in New York, Tangen travels all over the continent — including San Francisco, Minneapolis, Boston, Miami, Tampa, Boulder, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Los Angeles and Hawaii — to visit and provide pastoral care for Norwegian students at events for Norwegian students that are arranged by the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad. He also travels to Canada — Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal — and even sometimes Mexico.
In his travels, he gets to meet many different people, which he described as his favorite part of the job. However, when one is committed to so much traveling, loneliness sometimes kicks in.
“I don’t think I was well enough prepared for the feeling of being lonely when I first started in this job,” Tangen said. “Being in this position, you work a lot on your own, and there are several times when you will sit in a hotel room by yourself, in an unknown place.
“Also, when I have meaningful encounters with students, I normally don’t have anyone to share the experience with, and that can be lonely sometime.”
Planning his schedule is also a little challenging, because students tend to be spontaneous. He describes this part of the job as challenging but also entertaining.
“There are always things that are uncertain, so I always have to be prepared to be flexible,” Tangen said.
How Tangen connects with and serves Norwegian students
The Norwegian Seamen’s Church works closely with the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad, being a part of the support system for Norwegian students abroad. Many Norwegian students are members of ANSA, and the organization hosts a lot of events for the students. Tangen tries to make an appearance at as many events as possible to meet new people and grow connections.
“Without ANSA, I don’t think a lot of the students would even know about me, nor my work,” Tangen said.
He proceeded to talk about his thoughts when it comes to the younger generation and its connection with the church and Christian community. “I think that fewer and fewer have an active connection with the church,” Tangen said. “By working with ANSA, we are able to show students that the Seamen’s Church is an open community and everyone is welcome, Christian or not.”
He wants people to know that the Norwegian Seamen’s Church is open to everyone, not only the people that share the same beliefs.
“When I connect with students, my job is to have an open agenda and meet them where they are — physically and emotionally,” Tangen said.
Americans more vocal about religion
Living in America as a Norwegian, Tangen has acknowledged that there are some differences between Norwegian and American Christians and how they pursue their faith.
“There is a huge diversity when it comes to practicing religion in both America and Norway,” he said. “But I have noticed that Americans talk more about their faith, and I consider this a beautiful thing.”
Tangen sees Americans as more open and public with their faith, while Norwegians generally are more private about their religious beliefs. He said he feels grateful for his experience living as a chaplain in New York because of all the diversity he has seen when it comes to religions, beliefs and cultures.
“I have noticed that it’s not unusual to ask others what religious community they belong to, rather than if they belong, although this may be changing with the younger generation,” Tangen said. “While living here, I have noticed that my own beliefs often get clearer when I meet people who don’t share the same view of life as me — both because they often show me new and meaningful perspectives on life, but also because it gets me to reflect: What are my own beliefs?”
Natalie Hognestad is a journalism student at The King’s College in New York City through the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute exchange program and a student at NLA University in Norway.