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A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 17 october 2022
Queen lauds Minnesota church’s century of Norwegian worship

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO Mindekirken, and particu-
Associated Press larly enjoys the coffee hour
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Be- that follows the two servic-
fore attending the packed es, one in English and one
Sunday morning service, in Norwegian.
Queen Sonja of Norway “Dad baked a lot of bløt-
praised Mindekirken con- kake for this church,” she
gregation for having main- recalled, referring to the
tained worship in Norwe- traditional soft cake that
gian for all 100 years that her father had perfected
the church has existed in as a baker in Norway. “It’s
Minneapolis. a place you always feel it’s
“It’s extraordinary to real- your home.”
ize that, one hundred years Standing in line Sunday
after, Mindekirken is still morning with her two
fulfilling that purpose” of daughters and dozens of
building community and other congregants before
preserving culture and service started, Karen Liv
language, she said to the Mjlølhus Cardwell said her
nearly 500 people in atten- father started worshipping
dance. They had lined up here in 1929, when he emi-
for more than an hour in this grated to Minnesota.
modest neighborhood in Eline Gro Knatterud, 4, meets the presiding bishop of the Church of Norway, Olav Fykse Tveit, “It’s like coming home to
brisk fall weather in the 40s as they both wait for Queen Sonja of Norway to arrive at Den Norske Lutherske Mindekirke, the family,” Mjlølhus Cardwell
— single digits in Celsius, just Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church in Minneapolis, Sunday Oct. 16, 2022. said.
as in Oslo — to participate Associated Press And to have that continuity
in the service. to Minnesota that made gian even as many other Norwegian, he added. of culture and worship cel-
Queen Sonja received a the Twin Cities the “unoffi- European churches were That made all the differ- ebrated today by Queen
special greeting from Eline cial capital” of the Norwe- moving to English, be- ence to Kirsti Grodahl, who Sonja and the presiding
Gro Knatterud, 4, who pre- gian diaspora, said Amy cause attacks on foreign- was 11 when she emigrat- bishop of the Church of
sented the queen with a Boxrud, the director of the language speakers spread ed to Minneapolis in 1962 Norway, the Most Rev. Olav
bouquet of red roses nearly Norwegian-American His- across the United States in from the fjord-side village Fykse Tveit, brought tears
as big as herself. Queen torical Association. the World War I era. of Frei in Norway with her to the eyes of Mindekirken
Sonja got down to eye Lutheran churches were “The group said, ‘We’ll parents and siblings. She council president Jean-
level with the awestruck girl central to these immi- talk American English ev- started going to church at nette Henrikssen, whose
and told her, in English, that grants’ lives, though some ery day, but we need our Mindekirken a week later, parents migrated in the
she had an identical red stayed with the Church of hearts’ language when we sometimes on foot. late 1960s.
traditional bunad dress at Norway and others estab- praise God,” said the Rev. “It was just so comfortable,” “It’s very moving that we
home, before walking into lished different Lutheran Gunnar Kristiansen, the cur- she said. She made her first still hold service in Norwe-
the large stone church. synods. rent pastor to a flock of friend there, who had ar- gian,” she said. “It’s a testa-
The congregation was Den Norske Lutherske Mind- about 200 families. rived two years earlier, and ment to the determination
founded in 1922, at the ekirke – the Norwegian Lu- Within a few years, Mind- she raised her two children and sheer stubbornness of
tail end of a decades-long theran Memorial Church ekirken was the only one of to speak Norwegian, too. those Norwegians, and the
migration of hundreds of – committed to keep cel- five dozen churches in Min- Grodahl still regularly at- love and connection they
thousands of Norwegians ebrating services in Norwe- nesota still worshipping in tends Sunday services at wanted to uphold.”q

Radioactive waste found at Missouri elementary school

The report by Boston Chem- plain of Coldwater Creek, nium, radium and other
ical Data Corp. confirmed which was contaminated toxins were “far in excess”
fears about contamination by nuclear waste from of what Boston Chemical
at Jana Elementary School weapons production dur- had expected. Dust sam-
in the Hazelwood School ing World War II. The waste ples taken inside the school
District in Florissant raised was dumped at sites near were found to be contami-
by a previous Army Corps the St. Louis Lambert Inter- nated.
of Engineers study. national Airport, next to the Inhaling or ingesting these
The new report is based on creek that flows to the Mis- radioactive materials can
samples taken in August souri River. The Corps has cause significant injury, the
from the school, accord- been cleaning up the creek report said.
ing to the St. Louis Post- for more than 20 years. The “A significant remedial
Dispatch. Boston Chemical Corps’ report also found program will be required
did not say who or what contamination in the area to bring conditions at the
requested and funded the but at much at lower lev- school in line with expecta-
Water flows in Coldwater Creek on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021,
behind a row of homes at Belcroft Drive and Old Halls Ferry report. els, and it didn’t take any tions,” the report said.
Road in Missouri’s St. Louis County. “I was heartbroken,” said samples within 300 feet of The new report is expected
Associated Press Ashley Bernaugh, president the school. The most recent to be a major topic at Tues-
of the Jana parent-teacher report included samples day’s Hazelwood school
FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — weapons were produced association who has a son taken from Jana’s library, board meeting. The district
There is significant radioac- during World War II, ac- at the school. “It sounds kitchen, classrooms, fields said in a statement that it
tive contamination at an cording to a new report by so cliché, but it takes your and playgrounds. will consult with its attorneys
elementary school in subur- environmental investiga- breath from you.” Levels of the radioactive and experts to determine
ban St. Louis where nuclear tion consultants. The school sits in the flood isotope lead-210, polo- the next steps. q