Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Porsgrunn

The church was commissioned to local architect Haldor Larsen Børve. Børve had at that time made a name for himself by acting as primary architect in the construction of the Langangen Church in the nearby village of Langangen and the Dalen Hotel in Tokke, a giant wooden hotel in the Dragestil style that was at the time a popular destination for Europe's royalty. He would later go on to design many other buildings in the area, such as the new Porsgrunn City Hall and a funeral chapel for Østre Porsgrunn Church just down the road. The leader of Norway's Catholic Church at the time, Johannes Olav Fallize, was adamant that new churches should reflect traditional Norwegian architecture and pious values, and Børve was seen as the perfect man for the job.[1]

Børve's design incorporated elements from stave churches across Norway along with a few more recent elements, such as the copper-plated bell tower at the church's apex. Construction began on 4 January 1899, by the firm Thovsen & Torjussen, who enlisted the talents of many local craftsmen for detail work. The stained glass windows were imported from Berlin, and the church bells from the Olsen Nauen Bell Foundry in Sem, Tønsberg, which also manufactured bells for many other churches across Norway including the Oslo Cathedral and Trinity Church in Arendal.[2] Construction was finished on 8 October of the same year, and the church was consecrated on the same day to Our Lady of Good Counsel. The church cost about 12,000 kroner in all, which was funded in part by a significant donation from local politician and Catholic convert Carl P. Wright.

The church sat on that same property for 38 years. However, in the 1930s a change in Porsgrunn's road system left the church in a very inconvenient location, and a planned new Folkets hus would leave it almost boxed in. Therefore, it was decided that the church be moved to its current location on the other side of Sverresgate. A new foundation was built across the street, and special iron rails were built, upon which the building would be moved on many iron rollers. In 1937, the church was moved across the street, drawing a large crowd of local residents. One sister of St. Joseph who witnessed the event wrote in her memoirs: "The whole town attended the event with excitement ... Suddenly the Catholic church was the center of all attention, especially when the building stood for a few days in the middle of the street, blocking all traffic."[3] After the church was moved over to the new foundations, a new weaponhouse room was added which included an overhead gallery to provide room for extra seating. The church was consecrated again at its new location on 10 October 1937.

Today, Our Lady of Good Counsel Church is the last of the Dragestil churches commissioned by Fallize still holding mass, with the other churches in Stavanger, Drammen, and Fredrikstad having since been replaced with newer and larger buildings.[4]

Apart from the five chapels across Telemark, the parish also features a small monastery near Lake Tinn, built in 1977. The monastery was started by Robert K. Anderson OCSO, an immigrant from Minnesota, on a disused farm called Hylland. There is now a small community of trappist monks on the site and a small chapel they built by hand, in which they hold mass for Eastern Rite twice weekly.[8]

Benedictine convents such as the one at Hylland are not unusual for the area: in fact, there is evidence of such convents existing all the way back in the 12th century. When the lendmann Dag Eilivsson returned home from the Norwegian Crusade, he was inspired by the monastic life he had seen while wintering in southern England. He decided to build a covenant on his property on Gimsøy island, approximately where Dir. Smidths gate lies in Skien today. The Gimsøy Abbey, as it became known, served as a nunnery for centuries until the 1500s, when the Reformation caused its dissolution.[9] Nuns from this abbey are likely what gave Porsgrunn its name, as they often went into the area to gather pors (Myrica gale). The buildings burnt to the ground in the 1500s, and there is no trace of them on the island today.